Red Headed Goddess
by Goddess Evie
Summary: Someone's stalking Jessie and it puts the whole Quest Clan on edge. Can they figure out who it is before he gets too close?
1. Chapter 1

Title: Red Headed Goddess, 1/?Author: Goddess Evie  
Date: March 23, 2007  
Category: JJHR, Angst  
Summary: Jessie gets a call from the police and finds out she's become a victim of a very sick crime. But who's been stalking her all this time?  
Disclaimer: I do not own JQ. I am only using the characters for my own unique story. I also do not own "If", David Gates does or "Blowing in the Wind" which is owned by Bob Dylan. I merely use them to enhance my humble writing.  
Author's Notes: It's been a while since I've put out fic. I've had this one simmering for quitesome time and it's still not finished. But I thought I'd give it a chance. This is the prologueand first chapter. It's pretty long. But subsequent chapters are shorter, I promise. I only hope that my writing style and plot structure has improved. Although, it should come as no surprise that I'm writing JJHR. Some habits never change!

**_Red Headed Goddess_**

Prologue: _A picture paints a thousand words._

She was the most beautiful girl in the world. She was unreal. A muse, an angel, a Goddess. But best of all she was his best friend, his confident, his sharer of secrets, his shoulder to cry on. He could count on her for anything, talk to her about everything, depend on her to get him out of trouble, rely on her to take the blame with him whether she deserved it or not.

And he would do the same for her, without thinking twice, without worrying about the consequences, without caring about what happened to him or what came out of it. She was all that mattered, making sure she was okay, unhurt, alive.

He could picture her at anytime, sometimes without realizing what he was doing. Her hair, rippling down her back, or pulled up in a sloppy bun that he could never resist pulling the hair band from. He loved to watch all that glorious hair spill down in waves of that perfect color of red that reminded you of fire trucks and apples and cherries and roses and fire. But the real fire was in her emerald eyes that shone with her sense of adventure, her love of turning the unknown into the known, her passion for life, and most of all her love for her family and closest friends.

And he could just picture, with a flush of jealousy to his cheeks, all the men eyeing her slender, athletic six-foot frame. Admiring the way her jeans snugged around her slim figure, noticing the fit of her shirts. Then with pride he noted that all they could do was look. She'd hurt them if they tried anything more, and then he would. You had to be special to lay anything more than a gaze on her.

And he was lucky enough to be one of the "chosen few". He loved creeping up from behind and slipping his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. Somehow she knew it was him, and not some random jerk trying to make a pass at her, and she would pause in whatever she was occupied with at the moment to flash him the most dazzling smile.

That was another great thing about her: she had her priorities.

Nothing was too important to cause her to ignore her family. They were the most important thing in her life. Nothing came before them. Nothing was too special to not put aside when she was needed by them. Nothing stopped her from standing by their side.

There wasn't a bad thing he could find about her. She was perfect, in his mind, in every way. He idolized her, kept her on a pedestal, placed her in a temple, worshipped her like the Goddess she was. Not to say they didn't get into arguments, but even then he admired her. The way her eyes flashed with passion and anger. How she would get so frustrated when she wasn't winning, and the way she looked so smug when she was. And he couldn't help but admire someone who had saved his life numerous times, and not love someone whose life he'd saved numerous times back.

And he did love her, though he wouldn't ever tell her.

He couldn't tell her, couldn't take the chance of ruining the great thing he had with her. He knew that if he ever did let their relationship go farther than friendship, he would never be able to live without the touch of her kiss, the closeness of her embrace, and the loving look in her eyes-a look that wasn't hard for him to imagine-if it didn't end up working out. And then where would they be? Stuck trying to live together after that. It may be a big house, a mansion even, but it wasn't that big. And college was still a year away...

He didn't want to think about that anymore. It hurt too much. He just wanted to think about how beautiful and talented and funny and gorgeous and perfect she was. And that she would be his best friend forever, no matter what...

Chapter 1: _The answer is blowing in the wind._

Jessie Bannon was more interested in listening to the music floating from her stereo then she was in reading the magazine she held above her head as she lay on her back on her bed. It had been made for her personally by Irena Kaufka, a friend of hers and Jonny's from Prague. The sheet music itself was Anya Kaufka's, Irena's ancestor, played expertly by the young woman herself. Jessie had every note of every song memorized, could pick out either melody or harmony and hum it perfectly, name the title of each piece from just a few measures. Not even Time magazine could compete with the genius of Anya Kaufka.

The ring of the phone touched her ears faintly; just barely audible over the volume level she had the CD playing at. She lowered the magazine to her side, though hesitating to rise. The look on her face obviously showed that she didn't want to leave her sanctuary for such a droll chore.

Come on, Jonny. Pick it up, pick it up... she thought, trying to avoid having to pause the music in the middle of a movement.

She smiled as she heard the door to his room bang open after the second ring, and the phone silence mid fourth. Still grinning, she picked her Time magazine back up and began to flip through it again, forgetting about the phone as she lost herself in the serenade.

JQ

Jonny Quest heard the phone ring, the sound making its way through the soft drone of classical music coming from Jessie's bedroom and the MP3 music and sound effects coming from his own computer. He groaned as he paused the game he was about to win and rose from the desk in his room. He knew Jessie wasn't going to answer it if she was listening to that CD of hers, and no one else was home. His father, Dr. Benton Quest, his best friend, Hadji Singh, and their bodyguard, Roger "Race" Bannon, were all off at some convention. Jonny was slightly surprised that Jessie had not opted to go, but he also couldn't help but be glad. That meant that he wouldn't be home alone and totally bored like he usually ended up being. Or worse, dragged along.

The phone rang again, reminding Jonny that it still waited to be answered. Running out of his room, he winced as the door banged loudly against the wall. But he didn't slow down as he started along the hallway, the phone ringing for a third time. He slid to a stop, displacing the rug underfoot, and picked up the receiver for the hall phone in the middle of a ring. He placed it to his ear as he used his stockinged feet to try and straighten the rug.

"Hello?"

"Is this the Quest residence?"

The official sounding voice coming over the line made Jonny frown, his feet slowing their work on the still somewhat rumpled rug.

"Yes, it is," his reply was hesitant.

"Is Mister Race Bannon available?" the voice inquired.

"No," Jonny answered.

There was a pause before the other person continued. "When will he be available?"

"Not for a few days," Jonny informed.

Another pause before the voice went on. "Is Miss Jessica Bannon in?" the voice next asked.

"Yeah..."

"May I talk to her?" the voice was now beginning to get that impatient tone to it.

"May I ask whose calling?" Jonny replied in the same mocking, impatient tone of voice.

"This is the police. I'm Detective Dougan. We really need to talk to Miss Bannon, it's urgent. Please, put her on," the policeman demanded, sighing with frustration.

Jonny held the phone away from himself as if it had a deadly disease, staring at it in wide-eyed disbelief. He more felt his way to Jessie's door than anything else, knocking on it, then opening it without waiting for her to reply. Ignoring the annoyed look she gave him, he held the phone out to her, stretching the cord to its limit.

"It's for you. It's the police," he explained.

She rose quickly from her position on the bed, her face echoing the frown on his as she grabbed the receiver. He watched her, chaotic thoughts running through his head as to why the police would be phoning her. Followed her as she stepped back out into the hall to give the phone cord some slack. Continued to watch her as she returned to the phone table, where lay a small pad of paper and a pen, and scribbled down a note. Waited impatiently, as she thanked the officer, said good-bye and hung up the phone.

"So, what was that all about?" he asked immediately.

"I dunno," she replied, chewing on her bottom lip thoughtfully, and, Jonny thought, maybe a little worriedly as she ripped the piece of paper off the pad and stared it. "He didn't say, just requested that I meet him at this address." She showed the paper to him, holding it up in front of his face, the top of it between thumb and forefinger. "He said they had something to show me."

Jonny frowned deeper as he read the address jotted down in her neat handwriting. "What could they possibly have to show you on the other side of town?"

Jessie shrugged, pushing the paper into the pocket of her jeans and heading back into her room. "I dunno," she repeated her earlier reply, turning off her stereo and grabbing the keys for her jeep.

"Well, I'm coming, too," Jonny told her.

"If you want to," she said with another shrug as she began her descent down the stairs.

"And I do," Jonny assured as he joined her.

JQ

Jonny could tell that Jessie was trying to be nonchalant about the whole thing, trying to act like it was no big deal that the police had called her to come take a look at something, as if it were an everyday occurrence. But he had known Jessica Marie Bannon for five years-ever since they'd been twelve-and he knew that she was just trying to hide the fact that she was worried, maybe even scared, like she always did.

She was always trying to prove that she wasn't the weakest link of the group, that she could hold her own, that she was just as capable as the rest of the team. He wanted to tell her that she could drop the act, that she'd proven herself time and again. If only she knew that she didn't have to put on a front for them. But at the same time he knew that if he told her it would only make her mad, and even worse than that, make her try harder.

And Jonny couldn't help but admit to himself, in a small voice, that he was hiding his own worries. He wanted to be strong for her. Neither of them knew what awaited them, what it was the police wanted to show them. But whatever it was, Jonny wanted to be ready with a shoulder for her to cry on, and strong arms to wrap around her. He didn't like always imagining worst-case scenarios, but he figured if he did that and something good happened, or at least what happened wasn't as bad as what he imagined, than he could be relieved that his imaginings hadn't come true.

By the way the momentum of the jeep slowed until it came to a halt, and the rattle of keys as Jessie turned off the ignition, Jonny deduced that they had arrived and pulled himself from the reverie he was in. He looked around as he climbed out of the passenger side of the jeep, coming around the front of it to meet Jessie. It was a normal enough neighborhood, except for all the police officers and the yellow tape warning the crowd that had gathered that it was a crime scene and to stay out. There were small houses lining the streets, some with lawns strewn with toys, others well kept and neat, while still others looked like they needed a total overhaul.

The lot they were parked in front of, the same one that was surrounded by police officers, patrol cars, and yellow tape, held a modest apartment building. It was a couple of stories high, actually taking up two lots, covered in tan stucco that wasn't in too bad shape. Jessie and Jonny approached it, being stopped, as they knew they would, at the yellow tape by a youngish looking police officer.

"Please step back from the line. There's nothing to see here," the officer informed them dutifully.

"My name's Jessica Bannon. I was asked to come here by a Detective Dougan," Jessie informed him.

They both watched as the officer's face took on a look of recognition, then as he dashed off, yelling for "Detective Dougan".

"Well, that was...interesting," Jonny said, using the politest word he could think of.

"Did it seem like he recognized me? Cause I know I've never seen him before in my life," Jessie asked, turning to look at Jonny.

He shrugged at her. "I don't know. Maybe he just recognized your name because 'Detective Dougan' had told him to expect a Jessica Bannon."

Jessie gave her own shrug, a kind of "oh well" gesture. "Guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"Guess so," Jonny agreed as he turned around and checked out the neighborhood again.

Nothing had changed, except maybe the crowd was beginning to dissipate. Jonny was a little surprised to see that none of the local news crews had shown up. Unless they had already been there, gotten their story and left.

"Miss Bannon! Miss Bannon!"

The calling of Jessie's name caused both teens to turn around, searching the crowd with identical gazes. It wasn't long before they spotted the man who was calling out to them, waving to them frantically. He wasn't wearing a uniform like most of the other policemen around, but he was being escorted by the officer from earlier.

Jonny and Jessie only had to glance at each other before he grabbed the yellow tape and she ducked under it, her stride saying she would wait for no one, no how. Jonny was quick to follow, his own long legged stride quickly catching him up to his red headed friend. Together they reached the man who was obviously Detective Dougan, both ready to start prying answers from him.

"Miss Bannon, I'm Detective Dougan," the man introduced himself, pulling a badge and flashing it at them, a formality both of the teens ignored, having witnessed it more than enough times.

"We know, and please, just Jessie," she assured him, squaring her no non-sense gaze on him. "Now, let's get down to business?" she requested in a very demanding sort of tone.

"Alright…Jessie, but first, who's this?" Dougan's gaze was taking in Jonny, who was standing beside Jessie, as if her guardian.

Jessie glanced at Jonny, with a special smile just for him, a smile that made his heart skip a beat, or five, and sent him, for a few moments, into his own little euphoric world.

"This is Jonny, a friend," Jessie informed the Detective, then added curtly, "and that's all you need to know."

Dougan looked a little incredulous at Jessie's boldness, and he needed to take a moment to take her in, while she and Jonny exchanged a secret smile.

"So," Jessie finally said, having grown impatient of waiting for the Detective to continue, "what did you call me down here for?"

Detective Dougan suddenly seemed nervous, darting his glance around as if he was now avoiding having to actually look at Jessie.

"Well, it's kind of hard to explain. It'll probably be better if you just come see."

There was no time between the moment he rushed out that last sentence to the moment he turned on his heel and began to walk, at a quick clip, toward the entrance to the apartment building. Jessie and Jonny had to jog to catch up to him, and then had to keep their strides up so they wouldn't lag behind. They passed a group of civilians, no doubt tenants of the apartment building, on their way in, a couple of police officers working on interrogating them. Jonny tried to catch what they were saying as he passed by, for some chance of a clue as to what was going on, but he didn't have enough time to hear much. And what he did hear was no help at all.

Detective Dougan continued past all the doors on the first floor for the stairs leading to the second floor. He took them two at a time and Jessie and Jonny easily followed him, not tiring as he did halfway up. Jonny thought it odd that Dougan was so quiet, not even looking to see if they were still following him. He was used to policemen talking as they went around their business, preparing him for what was about to happen, explaining as much as they could. But Dougan was eerily silent, and to Jonny, that wasn't a good omen.

The inside of the apartment building was no better or worse than the outside. The walls were all painted a bland white and showed some signs of wear and tear. Underfoot was a carpet that looked both like it got regular care and that it had been there since the eighties, at least. There were cheap light fixtures stationed along the ceiling, which was in the same condition as the walls, giving light to what would otherwise be a gloomy hallway. The carpet continued up the steps that led to the second floor, the inch or so gaps left on either side showing the wood flooring underneath.

The second floor was much the same as the first, with intervals of doors leading to the apartments, all a dark brown, the numbers posted on them with little black on white numeral stickers. The only difference was at the end, where more policemen were milling around, some taking statements from some of the other renters. Detective Dougan led his charges into the apartment, pushing through the officers to get there. Jonny couldn't help noticing the furtive glances that they threw at Jessie. Some of them almost seemed sympathetic in nature.

Detective Dougan continued to lead Jonny and Jessie through the sparsely furnished living room. Cameras, film and negatives were strewn everywhere and some of the officers, wearing latex gloves and armed with plastic baggies, were collecting the items, carefully labeling each one. Directly adjacent to the living room was the kitchen, the countertops piled with junk food and wrappers, the stove looking like it hadn't seen use in a long while.

After the front rooms, Jessie and Jonny were led into a short hallway that offered three more doors to choose from. One led to a bathroom, dingy and smelly, that neither teen took a very good look into other than to know that it looked like it should be quarantined. Another door was obviously a bed room turned dark room. Unlike the other rooms, it was immaculately clean, the chemical trays lined up tidily, the pictures hanging on the line straight and neat. Both Jessie and Jonny tried to see what the pictures were of, not because of snoopiness, but out of general curiosity. However, the pictures were facing the wrong way, toward the room, not the doorway, and their curiosity was soon returned to the as yet unknown reason that Dougan had requested Jessie's presence.

The last doorway at the end of the hall was closed, and mostly devoid of the policemen that had been so smothering the whole way up. Jonny and Jessie couldn't help the look of apprehension that passed between them as they neared the only option left, still trailing the eerily silent Detective Dougan.

Curiously, when they reached the last door, Detective Dougan stopped and turned to face Jessie and Jonny, finally addressing them. He hesitated before he spoke, taking a deep breath and running a hand through his hair. Jonny watched Jessie, out of the corner of his blue eyes, as her impatience and annoyance level rose, and as she tried to keep those easily flared traits of her "Bannon-ness" in check.

"There's really no way to prepare you for what's behind this door," Dougan's voice was slightly shaky, and he glanced over his shoulder at the door waiting to be opened. "Maybe it would just be better if I showed you," he hesitated.

"Maybe," the tone of Jessie's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Jonny reached over, taking Jessie's hand in his and giving a small squeeze. She glanced over at him with a slight, repentant smile, though Detective Dougan would see neither sight nor sound of an apology.

The detective was too busy forcing himself to open the door to notice the exchange between the teens, who now watched as he placed his hand on the doorknob. Slowly, Dougan began to turn it. Jonny wondered whether he did this for suspense, or if what was behind that door was really as bad as Dougan claimed it to be. Jessie was sure he was just doing it to get revenge on her for being so disrespectful to him, but how could she show respect for someone who was taking up her time and accomplishing nothing more than being an annoyance?

And then the door was opened and Detective Dougan stood aside to allow the two to enter. From what they could see standing in the doorway, the walls and ceiling were filled with pictures, so completely covered that not one sign of white showed through. There was a tall bureau with a mirror topping it, covered in candles and more pictures that seemed to be some sort of shrine. The only form of bedding was a mattress on the floor, blankets strewn across its otherwise bare cushioning in a tangled heap, looking like they hadn't seen a washing machine in quite some time.

With a quick, unsure glance at Dougan, Jessie strode into the tiny room, her head swiveling around as she took in all aspects of it. Jonny followed, more slowly, eyes moving from one wall of pictures to another to the shrine and back to the walls. He wasn't as quick as Jessie to move toward one of those walls and inspect the pictures more closely. Not until her gasp caught his attention, snapping his gaze in her direction. He listened as she uttered an "Oh God," watched as she took a few steps back, turning her head away, her eyes closed, looking as if she was trying to regain composure.

That was all it took for Jonny to rush up past her to see what the pictures contained. And when he saw, he gave almost the same reaction as Jessie-almost. But he controlled himself, steeling his emotions the way he'd seen Race do so many times. His eyes roved over the walls; anger, rage kindling itself inside of him. He balled up his fists, knuckles a yellow white, fighting the urge to start ripping pictures off the wall.

"They're all of me," Jessie's quiet, small voice caught him off guard. "Every one of them."

Jonny turned instantly, pulling the red head who had moved forward again to stand at his back into an embrace. He felt her shivering, and pushed his arms even tighter around her, stroking her red hair in an effort to comfort her. But how could she be comfortable in a room like this? Not even he was comfortable.

He watched her as her eyes continued to slip over the walls, her complexion gone white. He found his own gaze starting to return to the mass of pictures. They seemed to have a hypnotizing affect on him, taking a hold of his attention and refusing to let it go without a fight.

Detective Dougan's sudden interruption, though he kept his voice soft, was a startle to both Jonny and Jessie. They jumped, both glad and angry, though neither showed it. "I wish I didn't have to show you this," he spoke directly to Jessie, "but it was necessary, and we wanted to ask you some questions."

Jessie nodded, pulling from Jonny's arms, putting on her mask once again. "What do you need me to do?" she asked, amazingly cooperative compared to how she had previously acted.

"There're a lot of pictures here," Dougan stated, glancing around. "It'd be nice to know how far back they go. That's going to take some time and we'll need help contacting your parents. I assume they aren't in town since they didn't come with you."

Jessie nodded to Dougan, showing only strength and confidence to the policeman. But Jonny knew better. He saw way the way she tried, and failed, not to glance around the room, how she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, and how she was constantly tucking her hair behind her ear though it was already locked firmly in place there. The telltale signs were all there and he knew that she was ready to run from this room and get as far away from it as possible.

With her act of strength and a face like stone, Jessie followed Dougan to the other side of the room, next to the mattress, where the pictures were yellowed and the edges of them curling. These were obviously the oldest of the pictures, a fact easy to guess by how much younger Jessie looked in them compared to her now. It didn't take her long to deduce how long ago they'd been taken, and Jonny knew that was partly because she didn't want to have to look at them much longer than she really had to. A few seconds of forcing herself to stare at them and she threw the answer at Dougan, turning violently away from the wall and closing her eyes.

"About two years."

"Are you sure? Maybe you should take one more good look," Dougan asked, and though his tone was soft Jonny wanted to strangle him.

"No, I'm positive," she growled.

She was losing her control. It wasn't hard to tell. She was on the verge of tears. Her body was shaking, her arms were wrapped around herself. The room was taking its toll on her. It was taking its toll on everyone.

"I'm sorry," Dougan said, sounding sincere. All three of them were silent for a beat and then the detective took a deep breath before breaking into the tense silence. "Alright, that's all we need here. I'll have a patrol car escort you to the police station."

Jessie nodded, then turned and walked out of the room. Jonny followed with a concerned sigh, his expression one of worry as he trailed his red headed companion. And for once he didn't try to hide his worry from Jessie like he usually would. When she glanced over her shoulder at him, he expected her to give him a reproving frown, but she just turned back around without any scolding whatsoever.

And that scared Jonny.

He watched her as she fought to remain composed, in control. But it was a fight she was loosing. She almost ran out of the apartment, through the halls, down the stairs, past all the policemen and on-lookers. She didn't stop until she had reached her jeep and stood leaning against the hood.

"Jessie?" Jonny approached her tentatively, not sure how she would react.

"All this time...and I didn't even know." she spat.

"They're just pictures. People take pictures all the time," Jonny tried to rationalize, knowing her anger wasn't for him.

"Not thousands of pictures of one person," Jessie's stiff reply came.

Jonny sighed, reached out to her. She moved away, fumbling with her keys. Tears welled along the bottom rim of her green eyes, and one or two tumbled down her cheeks though she tried to hold them back. Jonny strode forward and grabbed the keys from her, nudging her in the direction of the passenger seat. She began to protest, but Jonny had been expecting that.

"I'll drive," he told her softly, but firmly.

And somehow that was all he had to say. She didn't argue, didn't sulk, just slumped into the passenger seat absolutely listless.

"Officer Ladden will escort you to the police station. I'll follow behind and meet you there," Dougan said to Jonny, patting him on the shoulder and heading for his own vehicle.

Taking the driver's seat, Jonny slid the key into the ignition, but didn't turn it to start the engine. Instead, he leaned over closer to Jessie, putting one hand on the back of the seat, and the other one on the edge next to her legs.

"Jessie, are you gonna be okay?" Jonny knew that his voice was conveying every ounce of fear and worry he held for her. He had never seen her act like this since he'd known her. It was like little by little all her strength and stamina and just everything were fading away.

She looked at him, her wide green eyes telling all for once, her face a tumult of emotions all fighting for space, instead of being steeled to the world. She could bluff her way out of anything if she wanted, but at the moment her eyes showed straight to her soul.

"I'll be fine," her words lied, though her voice was tiny and almost inaudible, a reflection of her expression.

She continued to look straight into his eyes with her own, her arms folded across her stomach, feet propped up on the dash board. And Jonny continued to search her eyes, waiting for her to speak truth.

A horn honking startled Jonny, and he looked over the back of the jeep to see Officer Ladden waving at him. He looked back at Jessie again, whose gaze was on the floor mats of the jeep, then sighed as he turned himself forward and started the engine, pulling out behind the waiting patrol car.

Softly, as the police car began to head off, Jessie uttered, "Thanks for coming with me..."

Jonny nodded his "you're welcome" back to her, but found he just couldn't make himself speak. You **will** be fine, he silently promised his companion as he drove off behind the policeman.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Red Headed Goddess 2/?  
Author: Goddess Evie  
Date: March 23, 2007  
Category: JJHR, Angst  
Summary: Jessie and Jonny return home. Jessie has a moment with her father.  
Disclaimer: I do not own JQ. I am only using the characters for my own unique story. The opening quote for this chapter is "Papa Can You Hear Me?" from the movie "Yentl" staring Barbara Streisand, which I personally have never seen. However, Charlotte Church does a very nice rendition of this song.  
Author's Notes: This is a bit of a slow chapter. Nothing majorly plot moving. But a nice little scene with Jessie and Race. Next chapter will have something more major, I promise. And I can make this promise with all certainty, because it's already written. I'm just waiting to send it out. Hee!

Chapter 2: _Papa, can you hear me?_

The police station was cold and stiff, just like every other police station Jonny and Jessie had been in. Cold, stiff, small, cramped, busy, noisy. A nervous place made even more so by the fact that they were even there and why they had to be there.

The first item on the agenda upon arriving was to phone Benton, Race, and Hadji and let them know what was going on. The three men were in L.A. at a convention that Dr. Quest was guest speaking at. Jonny looked out the window at the bright summer evening and then down at his watch, a specially designed Quest watch made only for the members of the Quest family. It read just past five and Jonny wondered what his family might be doing at this time, three hours behind themselves. Benton had been scheduled to speak that night of the three day convention, but that was another date ruined.

"How long will it take your father to get here?" Dougan asked Jessie.

She reacted as if in a dream, shaking her head to help focus her mind. "Uh, they're in L.A. It'll be a few hours..."

"That's a long way, but don't worry about any long distance charges," Dougan assured.

Jessie nodded, moving as if she were just a drone going through the motions. Her hand wavered over buttons on the receiver, but her mind couldn't seem to come up with the right numbers. Gently, Jonny took the phone from her, pushing in the number for the hotel in L.A. The woman's voice on the other end of the line was warm and happy sounding as she gave the name of the hotel, introduced herself as "Lucy", and asked how she could be of service.

"I need to speak to Dr. Benton Quest, suite 742," Jonny told the operator.

"May I ask who's speaking?" Lucy questioned politely.

"It's his son, Jonny," Jonny just as politely informed.

"Just one moment please."

The background noise suddenly cut off and an oldies tune replaced it, "La Bamba". He glanced at Jessie with a small smile for her as he waited, but, though her gaze was directed at him, it was clear he wasn't what she was seeing. He closed his eyes for a moment and waited, zoning out the Spanish lyrics of the song.

"Jonny! Hello! I wasn't expecting you to call," Benton's surprised, but warm tone startled Jonny, making his eyes open.

"Dad, hi," he responded. "I wasn't expecting to call you."

"Well, it's good to hear from you nonetheless," Jonny could hear the sincerity in his father's voice and it made him smile.

"You too dad...look, is Race there?" he asked, knowing he needed to get straight to the point.

"Uh, yeah, just one minute and I'll get him," Benton replied.

Jonny could hear the now distant sound of his father's voice calling for his bodyguard and long time friend and family member. There was silence as Benton waited for Race's arrival, and then the shuffling of the phone from one person to the next.

"Hey, Jonny," Race's voice was just as cheerful as Benton's had been.

"Hey Race," Jonny replied, trying to sound cheerful.

He glanced at Jessie as he greeted the man who had become a second father figure in his life. Hearing the name of her own father she looked up at Jonny, as if coming out of a trance.

"Let me speak with him first," Dougan requested, sounding more authoritative than he had before.

"Uh, Race, there's a Detective Dougan here who needs to speak with you," Jonny informed obediently.

He could hear Race begin to question why a Detective would need to speak with him as he pulled the receiver from his ear and handed it over to Dougan. He then leaned against the desk and watched Jessie, half listening to Dougan's conversation with Race, who flinched after hearing the white-haired man's response to the situation. Jessie just stood there, staring straight ahead, looking as if she were working on keeping the tears from spilling out of her eyes. Jessie didn't cry; she was a big girl, strong and tough, who lived in a house of men and couldn't be found weaker than any of them.

"Jessie, your father wants to talk to you," Dougan informed her softly, the mouthpiece of the receiver covered by his hand as he held it out to her.

She merely nodded at Dougan as she took the phone and placed it to her ear. "Daddy?"

Jonny couldn't help noticing that she sounded like she was five again.

"I'm fine...scared...but fine," she assured him.

There was a pause as Race spoke and then Jessie's reply. "Yeah, I'd like that." Another pause for Race's answer. "Hurry, please." And then the good-byes were exchanged and Jessie hung the phone up, coming to stand by Jonny as she did and leaning her cheek on his shoulder.

Jonny was amazed at Jessie's reaction. He had expected her to object to her father coming home when Benton was still supposed to speak that night at the banquet. But this time she had seemed happy to have him coming home immediately.

"We want to set up some police protection for you," Dougan began to explain. "We know we can't do much without your father's permission, but we want to set up a couple of patrol cars outside the compound gates."

"No," Jessie's answer was clear and concise in her objection.

"But-" Dougan was cut off before he could make any arguments.

"We don't need any police protection. The compound is safe enough, the safest place in Rockport, and my father will be home soon. If he...and my family can't protect me, then no one can," Jessie's tone of voice was dangerous. She'd already passed the breaking point and Dougan wasn't going to survive if he tried to push her anymore.

"Alright, then at least let my men escort you two home," Dougan pleaded with her.

Jessie hesitated before nodding her head. Dougan showed some relief at this agreement, but then tensed up again.

"Jessie, we need to know if you can think of anyone who might be the suspect," Dougan asked of her.

"If you mean enemies, well then I have a whole list. This family strives on people who want us dead," Jessie's answer was sarcastic, and her tone derisive.

"No, not enemies. The person who did this doesn't want you dead, Jessie. He's infatuated with you, obsessed with you," Dougan told her.

Jessie nodded, taking in a deep breath and releasing it. "I don't know," she said. "I have plenty of guys who flirt with me, invite me out on dates."

"Why don't you just get the name of the person who was renting the apartment from the landlord?" Jonny inquired.

"We're looking in on that," Dougan admitted, "The landlord kept lousy records unfortunately, and as much as we're trying, at the moment we can't figure out who lived in what apartment when. That's why we were wondering if you could give us some names. That way we could possibly match up one of your names to one of the names from the landlord's records."

"Didn't you even get a description?" Jonny asked.

"Actually, we did, and we have our artist working with the landlord and other tenants to get a sketch drawn up. The landlord said he remembered the guy because he always paid his rent in cash," Dougan answered. "Once we get it, we'll make sure you see it to find out if you can make an ID."

Jessie nodded. "Is that all you needed?"

"I'll want to speak with your fathers, both of them, when they get in," Dougan told her.

"I'll give them your message," Jessie assured.

"Take this as well. It has all my contact information if you need to get a hold of me," the detective held out a business card.

Jessica took it and stuffed it into her front pocket without a word. Jonny could tell she was beginning to gain back her cool and collectedness. No more weak, crying Jessie. Once again she was strong and tough and no one or thing could touch her.

"And if that's all, we'll be going," she informed Dougan.

"For now," Dougan told her.

Jonny followed Jessie out, observing her change. Her arms were no longer wrapped around herself, but hanging at her sides, swinging a little as she walked. Her head wasn't bowed, her eyes no longer watching the floor. She held her head high, and looked straight forward, as if focused on a goal.

Why do you do this to yourself? Jonny questioned her in his mind. Don't you know that we're always here for you? I'm always here for you? If you would just give us a chance, we could show you how strong we can be for you!

He didn't have the courage to say it though, as he watched her. And when she turned toward him to demand the keys to her jeep, he kept any sign of his internal struggle from his face as he dropped her keys into her waiting palm. Jessie slipped into her seat and started the ignition immediately, revving the engine at him as he crossed in front of the vehicle to get to the passenger side. As soon as his bottom hit the seat she sped off and Jonny almost thought that he was going to be left behind.

She's in a mood now, he groaned inwardly as he quickly buckled his seat belt before she reached any turns that would send him flying from the jeep. So much for a police escort home.

Jessie's driving was nothing short of reckless. She was speeding, and that was an understatement. Her turns were sharp and fast and she wove in and out of the cars on the streets of Rockport and the highway leading to the compound as if they were those orange, plastic clones. Jonny was just glad that she'd been taught defensive driving from Race.

Still, that didn't condone the way she was driving.

"Say, don't you think you should slow down and remind yourself how to use your blinker?" Jonny asked, trying to keep his tone of voice light.

The only reply he got was a fixed, cold stare that, though it only lasted a moment before it turned back to the road, was enough to chill Jonny's blood and quell any other suggestions he might have made about Jessie's driving.

That was until she reached the cliff roads. Sure, she had been driving these roads since she first got her license and she knew them like the back of her hand. But the sun was getting low enough in the sky to blind right into the eyes, and at the speed Jessie was going, Jonny wouldn't have even trusted Race on this road.

"Slow. Down," he requested solidly this time.

"I'm okay."

"No, you're not. Now slow down, please," he exaggerated the last word in his plea, looking at her, though she only glanced at him, concentrating more on the way the road twisted along the cliff face.

Jonny held his breath, hope fading as the seconds ticked by. He was beginning to think he was going to have to get used to having his heart in his throat until they reached the safety of home. Jessie wasn't showing any signs of slowing, her grip on the steering wheel white knuckled.

Finally, the jeep slowed to a more manageable speed and Jessie even had the decency to turn on her headlights. Jonny sunk back into the passenger seat with a sigh.

"Thank you," he said with sincerity.

There was no more talk after that. Another fifteen minutes of silence before they reached the compound gates and Jessie voice activated the security system to let them in. Part of Jonny was glad. He wasn't exactly sure _what_ to say to Jessie and he was baffled by that. They'd been through so much together, shared so many tragic events, special moments, tears and laughter. He'd come to the conclusion that he would always be able to find something to say to make any situation better, even just a little. It was a promise he'd made to himself, now years ago, and this was the first time he failed.

That was the part of him that was worried. Here they were facing something new together. Except it didn't feel like together. Jonny was doing the best he could, but Jessie was pushing him away. Trying to regain that mask of cool strength. Not much had ever shaken it from her and it meant something that that room had been enough to do it. Jonny felt like he was grasping at straws trying to keep himself from being forced farther and farther away from her. It was the most helpless feeling he had ever experienced.

Jessie pulled to a stop in front of the multi-car garage and wasted no time in exiting the vehicle and heading for the house. Jonny stayed put for a moment, watching her go. The muted glow coming from the house lights, outside and in, gave off enough illumination to make out her red hair swaying in its ponytail as she strode along the sidewalk in the twilight. Despite the intensity of his previous thoughts his mind wandered a bit and he felt the silkiness of that hair slip between his fingers.

The motion sensors caught Jessie jogging up the front steps and the lights flicked on, bathing her now completely in light. As she unlocked the door she turned to look at him for a moment, as if surprised that he hadn't been right behind her. And then she was in the front door and lost from Jonny's sight.

Slowly he rose to his feet, headed for the front door, not letting his mind think about anything. Forcing his mind not to think about anything for a just few moments. Heavy thoughts burdened him and he knew he couldn't let them take over. Jessie had left the front door open for him, kindly enough. He managed to relax in thoughtlessness until he got through it and made sure to lock it securely.

As he made his way through the house those heavier thoughts began to drop back in. _How could this have gone on for so long without any of us knowing? _The lights had turned on as Jessie had made her way through the house, dimming to standby level as she exited each area. They brightened again for Jonny. _Had he been biding his time for the past two years, or were pictures as far as it would go? _He stopped a moment in the entry to the kitchen, knowing neither he nor Jessie had eaten anything since those sandwiches earlier that afternoon. But he didn't feel very hungry, and he knew Jessie wouldn't be much for eating. _What can I do for her? How do I get her to stop pushing me away?_

He continued on. It was obvious Jessie hadn't intended to stay anywhere that would mean encounters with another person. _Who is this guy? There seemed to be absolutely no clues in that direction, according to Detective Dougan._ He wasn't really paying attention to where he was going, his body seemed to move of its own accord, through the hall, up the stairs. _What kind of sicko would do this? And for so long?_

He realized now that he was standing in front of Jessie's door. He considered knocking, seriously debated it, but something told him that wouldn't get him anywhere. Jessie was isolating herself. Jonny just hoped it didn't last for too long. He turned away from her door and headed back to his own room.

Halfway there he met Jessie coming from the bathroom, already changed into nightclothes, a baggie, long sleeved, knit shirt and flannel pants. Her hair was loose from its ponytail and a few locks hung down over her shoulders. They both stopped as they met. Jessie tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

"When will Race and Dad and Hadj get in?" anything to get some conversation going between the two of them.

Jessie shrugged, "Probably not until early tomorrow morning."

When Jonny didn't have anything else to say she headed on past him. Jonny started towards his room as well, wishing that had gone better. "Hey," he turned to face her as he began to open his door.

She looked at him, wide green eyes imploring him to go on.

"If you need anything, let me know. I probably won't be getting any sleep tonight," he even managed a lop sided grin, weak as it was, to help give the statement some cheer and sincerity.

She nodded, tried to return the smile, and entered her room. The door shut firmly behind her. Jonny sighed, feeling a little defeated, a little like a failure as he entered his own room. He stripped down to his boxers, tossing his jeans, socks and t-shirt into the pile by his closet, and flopped onto his unmade bed. Staring at the ceiling, he waited for some sign that Jessie was completely lost in the depths of the events of the day.

Specifically, he waited to see what music she would blare. Goo Goo Dolls? Josh Groban? A random mix CD? Classical? He could usually tell her mood and the intensity of the situation by which comfort music she chose. Minutes ticked by without a peep from the other side of the wall. Jonny closed his eyes, praying for something, anything. But the silence remained.

It crept cold tendrils along Jonny's heart and into his stomach. Silence was the worst of all. Silence meant there was nothing for Jonny to do but wait. It would be a long sleepless night.

JQ

Jessie was sitting in the kitchen staring at an orange and a knife placed on the table before her, when her father walked in the next morning. She had been determined to eat the thing when she'd walked into the kitchen at two in the morning, told herself she needed to get something, anything into her stomach. But a whole hour had passed without her touching the fruit, just looking at it. And seeing that room covered with her own face. Laughing. Smiling. Rolling her eyes. Making silly faces. Glaring. Reflective. Determined. Annoyed. Focused. He had her caught her in every emotion. Even crying. And Jessie rarely cried.

She didn't notice Race at first. He was so quiet, thanks to his years of training and experience with I-1. Skills he had passed on to the three kids he claimed as his own. It wasn't until he was sitting next to her with his arms wrapped around her that she even realized he was there. He didn't speak and she didn't want him to. As he held her in a tight embrace she leaned against him, pulling the strength from him she needed not to cry in front of him.

Jessie didn't count the moments that she passed in her father's arms. She listened to his heart beat, felt his warmth and his breath through her hair. She didn't want to say anything until she knew she could speak without weeping. And she wanted to just let the safety her father always emoted to sink into her. His mere presence afforded her calm and protection.

In a whisper he asked her to tell him everything, his voice soft but with that steely tone Jessie had come to know so well. There was no messing with Race Bannon, anyone could tell you that. And threatening his family was like calling a death wish upon your own head.

Her voice was remarkably steady as she told the events of the day before. It wavered only a little as she described the room and its contents. She finished with her trip to the police station with Detective Dougan, the man in charge of the investigation. Race showed that he was listening with small gestures, nodding his head, grunts, the way his arms would tighten around her every so often. But he didn't interrupt her until the story was done.

"I'm going to talk with Dougan about joining the investigation."

"He probably won't like that."

"He doesn't have to, so long as he cooperates."

Silence reigned, once again. Jessie knew her father was already deep in thought, piecing the little clues they had together. He worked his jaw as he thought, something he always did when he was trying to figure things out. She could almost picture her father's mind at work, making a list of possible subjects, itemizing the evidence, preparing plans of action, searching for connections, organizing questions to ask any possible witnesses.

"You should get something to eat," they told each other at the same time.

Father and daughter chuckled together. Sometimes it was uncanny how their minds worked. Race released his hold on his daughter. Jessie sat up and looked at her father.

"Are you really hungry?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"Couldn't eat right now even if I were. You?"

Jessie gestured to the orange. "I already tried. The results weren't too positive."

Race grabbed the orange and tossed it up in the air, catching it again. He rose from his seat, replacing the orange in the fruit basket on the counter and then putting the knife away. The Bannons had come to an understanding about each other in the midst of a crisis. They had realized how fruitless it was to try to force the other to eat or sleep, and had stopped trying in the last couple of years. Like father, like daughter.

"What are you going to be doing today?" Race asked, a question that on any other day would be considered innocent.

Jessie groaned and stretched before she answered. "Jonny and I are supposed to meet some friends for basketball this afternoon. And I'm scheduled to volunteer at the Rockport hospital after that."

Race nodded, leaning against a counter and folding his arms across his chest while laying a stern, fatherly gaze upon his daughter. "Keep in contact throughout the day. Make sure to let me know if your plans change. You'll probably be most likely to reach me on the cell. You should take a phone with you, as well."

Jessie just nodded, not about to argue. She knew her father was only making sure she remained safe. And it was better than being confined to the compound, although she had contemplated grounding herself last night while lying in bed watching the moonlit shadows on her wall. But she had told herself she wouldn't change her plans just because some psycho decided to take an ungodly amount of pictures of her. She'd never let anyone rule her life before, and she wasn't about to start now.

"I'm gonna be up in my room, seeing if I can't convince myself to actually get some sleep," Jessie sighed as she stood up.

Race stopped her long enough to press a kiss into her hair. She found his hand and gave it a squeeze before she headed on up to her room, feeling drowsy but knowing real sleep would be elusive.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Red Headed Goddess, 3/?  
Author: Goddess Evie  
Date: March 23, 2007  
Category: JJHR, Angst  
Summary: While out for a run, Jessie discovers a package addressed to her. Who is it from? And Detective Dougan shows up ready to share and work with the Quests. Give him three cheers.  
Disclaimer: I do not own JQ. I am only using the characters for my own unique story. The opening quote belongs to Fiona Apple, from her song "Nothing's gonna change my world." I believe it's from the "Pleasantville" movie.  
Author's Notes: So, here's your next chapter. This one has more action. Also, in order to answer a question about why the police were in the guy's apartment…I don't know. Heheh, nah, actually, the landlord could have called it in when he/she went into the apartment (they can do that only for very specific reasons, but say he's checking all the smoke alarms in the building or something) and found the room and called the police. Does that explanation work?

Chapter 3: _Nothing's gonna change my world._

It wasn't some kind of overwhelming fear that kept Jessie awake. No, she'd been terrified as she'd stood in that room, her own eyes staring at her from hundreds…thousands of pictures. It had shaken her, she'd known that. She remembered crying into Jonny's shirt.

But the fear had not stayed long past her exiting that horrible apartment. The more she thought about it, the less afraid she'd become. As she'd compared it to other traumatic events in her life, she'd realized how inconsequential this one was. No one had been holding a gun to her head, or worse the head of a loved one. Nobody had been trying to destroy the world with only her and her two best friends to come to the rescue. No one was being threatened, tortured, kidnapped, harmed. There was nothing to be afraid of.

But plenty to be angry about. Angry that someone would do something so low. Jessie could remember watching TV shows where the same thing happened. Some guy obsessed with a certain girl, always collecting pictures of her, personal items, stalking her, causing her to live in constant fear. It was easy to see the person only cared about themselves, no matter how much they claimed to care only about the one they were obsessed with. Jessie hated to think some guy like that could be following her around. But she wasn't like those girls on the TV shows. Far from them.

She was angry, too, that it had gone on so long without her knowing. That he had been able to watch her, invade her life, without anyone's knowledge. It wasn't easy to get past the watchful eye of her father, especially since Jessie knew Race had been around when many of those shots had been taken. Or that she herself hadn't noticed such a thing. She was her father's daughter, and had come to reflect many of his own traits and talents. So why hadn't they discovered him before? Why had the person gone on so long without their knowledge?

Was she angry, as well, because the man behind the camera had so easily struck fear into her being? Because he had come out of nowhere and shaken her up? No, Jessie wouldn't admit to that. He didn't scare her. She'd already vowed not to be scared. Not since her first introduction to the room, the walls filled with photos of herself. But she would be mad. And she'd be careful and alert.

She had to stop thinking about it. She needed to get some sleep. All her anger was keeping her mind busy and keeping her awake. She couldn't let this mysterious photographer affect her so deeply. Besides, what could he do anyway? She could easily defend herself against him, she assured herself. And even if she couldn't, Jonny, Hadji, her dad, and Dr. Quest would never let anything happen to her.

She let that thought comfort her as she finally drifted off to sleep a little past five.

When she awoke again around seven, a little bit more rested but not by much, Jessie knew she wasn't going to get anymore sleep. She sat up in bed, her feet dropping to rest on the thick carpeted floor. The rumpled comforter and sheet still covered her lap as she rubbed at her eyes. Immediately, a vivid scene of that room took her and she blinked rapidly to make it go away.

Her fists gripped at her bedding in anger. It was just a room. They were just photographs. They couldn't harm her. Only if she let them. She made the decision right then not to let them. So far, no real danger had come out of the discovery and Jessie wouldn't let herself sit around and imagine any. It would only serve to bring fear, and she didn't need any of that.

Standing up, she determined not to think about it anymore. She shouldn't have even let if affect her in the first place. She had things to do, a life to live. "So get on with it, Bannon," she ordered herself firmly.

She decided she needed a run. Something to fill her morning. She changed quickly into track pants, a sports bra and a zip front hoodie. She stepped into her bathroom to pull her hair back into a ponytail, then grabbed socks, running shoes and iPod and headed for the main entrance. The house was quiet, which she expected. Those who could sleep were. Her father was most likely trying to find ways to occupy himself while it was still too early to seek out Dougan at the Rockport police station. Jessie didn't see him on her way through the compound, so he must have found something to keep him busy.

She stopped in the foyer to don her shoes and socks and start her iPod. Immediately, Cake's upbeat "Short Skirt, Long Jacket" flooded her ears. A good song to start a run with. And one of her favorite's. It brought a small smile to her lips. This had been a good idea. She hummed along with the music as she headed outside and stretched before her jog.

She was lucky that the Quest property the compound had been built on had plenty of room for running without having to leave the grounds. Sometimes she'd run along the highway that skirted the cliff and gave her a great view of the ocean, or the other way along the forested paths into Rockport. But today she felt like staying close to home and she didn't dwell on why.

"Devil Inside" by Utada Hikaru, a lesser known artist that was just immerging in American markets, was playing when the gates dividing the Quest Property from the outside world came into view. Seeing them made her quickly calculate the distance she had come. About three miles. The gates would be a great place to take a breather and stretch more, before heading back.

Jessie was about twenty meters from the wrought iron gates when she realized there was something on them. She couldn't quite make it out. Squinted as she got nearer. It was an orangey-tan, square shaped. About the size of an 8x11 mailing envelope. In fact, that's exactly what it was, taped to the bars of the gate. Ten paces away she saw her name scrawled on it.

Her heart was beating wildly as she stood in front of the gates, eyes affixed to the envelope, and it wasn't because of the exercise. She swallowed, reached for the package, stopped herself halfway. She couldn't make herself take it. She didn't want to.

"Iris," she spoke to the gate, not expecting her voice to be so shaky and not happy about it. "Tell dad to meet me out here immediately."

JQ

Race arrived in his black sports car with the other members of the household in tow. By that time Jessie had pulled herself away from the gate, the envelope still attached to it. She was crouched on the ground a few feet away, heels of her palms pressed into her eyes. She looked up when she heard the car, and rose to her feet as the men in her life piled out. Race was still in the clothes he'd arrived home in. Dr. Quest looked like he had just showered and gotten dressed in khakis, a gray blue polo shirt and loafers. Hadji had on white flannel pajamas and a pair of sandals. Jonny was in boxers, a t-shirt and sneakers that weren't even tied.

Race took her by her shoulders and looked at her, the silent question in his eyes. She answered just as silently, turning her head to look over her shoulder at the folder on the gate. Benton strode forward and snatched the thing off, holding it gingerly in his hands. The five of them seemed to communicate silently to each other. They all seemed to have a premonition of what the envelope meant without discussing options. They all seemed to work in sync with each other.

Race gently tugged at Jessie's arm to get her to move, pulling her to the car. Hadji climbed back into his side of the car. Jonny held his door open for Jessie and slipped in behind her. Benton took the passenger seat and Race drove. The silence remained on the way back to the compound. Jessie slipped her hands into Jonny and Hadji's, holding them tightly and feeling their tight grips in return. Race took top speed back to the mansion, even though it was a short ride. He shifted quickly, once slipping his hand back to touch his daughter's leg for a moment.

Benton avoided looking at the thing in his lap. It lay lightly in his fingers. Not very heavy. Just enough to have a sheet of paper, a few photographs. He stopped thinking about that and concentrated on the house as they approached it. If he hadn't trusted Race's driving, he would have thought they were going to crash through the garage door. They stopped just short of it and Race immediately turned off the car.

No one moved. Not for a couple of moments. They're breathing was the only sound. Just a few moments to remember all five of them were right there gathered in the car. Benton was the one who put everyone into motion.

"Jonny, Hadji, you go start on the surveillance footage for the front gate. Whoever dropped off the package didn't go undetected. Jessie, if Detective Dougan gave you a contact number, you need to get that now and call him. Tell him to come up to the Compound right away. Race and I will be in the lighthouse."

The back doors opened and the three teens filed out, heading off to their tasks. Benton and Race looked at each other, theirs the most unpleasant task of all. Once again, it was Benton that had to get them moving. He popped open his door and stepped out into the mid-morning. Race took his cue, following as the doctor headed for the labs.

The walk was both too short and agonizingly long. Benton held the envelope at his side, arms swinging slightly as he walked. Race told himself not to look at it. Glanced at it five seconds later, scolded himself mentally and strengthened his resolve and still found his gaze attracted to the parcel. Everyone _knew_ what was inside. But he was still afraid to actually open it and look at the contents. He was glad Benton carried it. If Race had it in his hands, it would most likely be shreds right now, before anyone had a chance to look at it.

Inside the lighthouse, the two men passed the first floor lab where the Quest World main unit was stored and the kids were often found playing their games. They headed instead to the second floor, where Race and Benton together had set up their own forensics lab, more advanced than anything the Rockport CSI unit had, and would probably salivate over if they ever saw it. On top of that, they had instant access to FBI, CIA and Interpol records for known criminals and fingerprint files. And of course Race's I-1 connection.

Benton set the envelope on the lab table and grabbed a couple of pairs of latex gloves. They would handle this carefully and professionally, extracting any and all evidence. Handing a pair of the gloves to Race, Benton donned his own and the two men stood staring at the offending article once again.

"The handwriting itself will be a good clue. Something to hold onto and compare other samples to. We'll scan it into a computer for our records," Benton started.

Race nodded. Benton watched his friend. They both hesitated to open the envelope. Benton in order to give Race a chance to do it himself. The man stayed still, giving the package a steely gaze. Benton held in a sigh as he reached for the envelope again.

Turning it over, he squeezed the metal tabs together and lifted the flap. With slight hesitation-what was a little more anyway?-Benton allowed the contents to slip from their wrapping. Three or four photographs, face down at the moment, and a letter in the same handwriting as the front of the folder. Flowing, but neat. More like calligraphy. Something Benton could admire if not for the current situation.

Benton picked up the letter, Race watching him. He began to read it, not sure what he would find. His eyes quickly scanned the words, bile rising despite their poetic nature. All the sugar coating in the world couldn't disguise this for what it was.

"Well?" Race asked, suspense finally getting the better of him.

Benton shook his head and handed the note to his companion. "Just a better sample of our suspects handwriting. Nothing to identify who he might be." Race didn't read very far before he set the letter aside again.

"Do you want to start scanning the samples in while I look at these?" Benton offered.

"No. Let's just get this over with," Race replied.

_Well,_ Benton thought as he reached for the photos, _I tried._

He flipped them over one by one. Every one was of Jessie. No surprise there. It's what they had been expecting. One was a close up of her from about the waist up, looking around herself with easy confidence. Another showed her from the back, a full body shot, walking towards a small crowd outside a building neither Race nor Benton had seen before. The next, Jessie coming out of that same building, running away from something she found on the inside. In the last, she was leaning against her jeep, her back once again to the photographer, face lifted to the sky.

"Those are from yesterday," Jessie's low voice interrupted the two men.

They hadn't realized how entranced they had become with the photos as they studied them. Really, each one seemed professionally done. Each scene carefully selected so that Jessie was the most prominent figure. Cropped so that no other persons could be a distraction. Beautiful. Sickening.

"Did you get a hold of Detective Dougan?" Race asked his daughter.

She nodded. "Yeah, he's on his way right now." She tore her gaze from the photos to look at her father. "Said it should be about half an hour. Iris is already prepped to let him in. I gave him a password to use."

"Good girl. Any news from the boys?"

"They haven't found anything, yet. Started at the point just after you two arrived this morning."

"They'll alert us when they find anything," Benton stated, noting Jessie was already looking at the photos again. "This is the building Detective Dougan called you to?"

Jessie moved forward and leaned over the table, giving them a closer look. "It's on the far side of Rockport. We were there just yesterday. Late afternoon." She pointed out the photos in chronological order. "Just as we got there, and just before leaving."

"He was there?" Jonny's incredulous voice asked as he bent next to Jessie to look at the photos as well. "And not one person saw him?"

"You found something, son?" Benton interrupted Jonny's tirade before it could go any further.

"Oh yeah, umm…"

"Iris, show main gate surveillance footage starting at oh five twenty five, today's date," Hadji stepped in calmly.

Simultaneously, the five turned to look at the monitor on the far wall. The footage appeared immediately, green with night vision. The road was visible, as well as some of the forest that helped to hide the compound from the public road. A paperboy was just leaving, getting back into his car for the drive back to town. The camera followed first human then automobile until it left the camera's range, before beginning an automated scan again. When it picked up another figure, it zoomed in and followed the intruders trail.

"That's our guy," Jonny informed as they all watched him approach the gate, attach the envelope and leave again. "Between the hoodie, hat, and sunglasses, there's no way to pick out any distinguishing features."

"We tried already," Hadji added with a defeated sigh. "The best we could do was height and weight."

"Six one, a hundred eighty five pounds," Jonny piped up, answering that mystery.

"So, just about any average shmoe," Jessie commented sarcastically.

"What about shoe prints?" Benton asked immediately.

"We'll have to go out there and get them before they're erased, if they haven't been already," Race answered, rising from the table. He grabbed a forensics kit from a file drawer and headed down the stairs.

"I'll see if I can't lift any prints from these," Benton volunteered, turning back to the documents on the table.

He almost snatched the letter from Jessie's hand. She was reading it silently, Jonny and Hadji scanning it as well over her shoulders. Benton watched his own son's gaze stray from the paper as he mouthed words from the letter. Even if he weren't skilled at lip reading, Benton would know what he was saying. "Red-Headed Goddess." Jonny looked up and caught his father's gaze, pursing his lips for a moment before returning to the letter.

Jessie set the letter down on the table again. Benton watched a silent exchange between his two sons behind Jessie. They glanced at him as well, and he lifted his eyebrows at them.

"I need a shower," Jessie suddenly stated, slipping away from the lab table and toward the stairs.

"Ditto," Jonny followed her quickly. Hadji as well, claiming he wanted to look at the surveillance footage again.

That left Benton alone with the packet and work to do.

JQ

Detective Dougan pulled up to the gate just as Race was putting away the forensics kit. He'd managed to find the trail their suspect had left, isolating it from other tracks. The dust was too delicate for any type of molds, but the digital camera had come in very handy. Race had plenty of shots, but no full prints. Still, they could have come up empty handed, so Race wasn't about to complain.

"I'm Detective Dougan," the man introduced himself as he exited his car, the engine idling.

Race shook the man's offered hand. "Race Bannon."

"Ah, I'm sorry about all this mess," Dougan sympathized.

"We all are. I just want it to be over as soon as possible," Race replied.

"Well, show me what you've got. Already looks like you've been collecting evidence," Dougan gestured to the forensics kit.

"Follow me in," Race answered, heading back to his car.

Ten minutes later the two men were joining Dr. Quest back in the lab. Dougan looked around with a low whistle. "What the Rockport forensics team wouldn't give for a setup like this."

"Detective Dougan, this is Dr. Quest," Race introduced.

The two men greeted each with a nod of their heads.

"What are you working on?" Dougan asked, walking to the lab table to get a better look.

"We received a care package from the photographer this morning," Benton answered as he continued to work. "I'm attempting to extract finger prints from the photos he so kindly included."

"More?" Dougan raised his eyebrows.

"Pictures from the crime scene yesterday. Four of them. Each one of Jessica," Race detailed for the man.

"He was there," Dougan was aghast.

"And taking pictures," Race added, picking one up and handing it to Dougan.

Dougan didn't take very long to look at it before putting it down on the table again, looking a bit pale. "I apologize, gentlemen. This never should have happened. If he was there, we should have seen him. We should have captured him."

"Don't apologize, Detective," Benton stopped him, pausing from his work to comfort the man. "You were doing your best. That's all we can ask."

"Unfortunately, there aren't many clues," Dougan continued, still sounding apologetic. "Plenty of fingerprints, but no matches from our database, though we're still running them. If the guy receives any mail, he doesn't keep it for very long. We're hoping to get some pieces in the next few days to at least get a name. We're _still_ going through the Landlord's records. That's a huge mess. Still working on an artist's depiction based on the description from the Landlord and the other tenants. Anything you could add would be very helpful. I'd be very willing to share and cooperate with you, gentlemen."

Race and Benton exchanged a look, not quite sure they were hearing Dougan correctly. Did he just agree to cooperate with them in the investigation without their even having to ask? Dougan noticed their surprise and gave an explanation before they could ask for one.

"Everyone in Rockport knows this family and how it works. You stick together, no matter what. I've heard stories from other officers who've had to work with you. You always get your way in the end. I just figured I'd skip the unnecessary power play and get right to what works. Plus, I know you have more and better resources than we do. If we can work together on this, hopefully we can get this guy caught before he does any real damage."

Race looked at Benton, still unbelieving. Benton was slowly shaking his head, Dougan's words making complete sense.

"Detective Dougan, I think we have a deal," Benton offered.

"Good, then let's get started," Dougan set the briefcase he'd brought with him on the lab table and popped it open.

Inside were a myriad of manila folders and documents. And a small sample of the pictures that had come off the wall. He spoke as he worked, business like and professional. Race and Benton gave him their full attention.

"Like I said before, we haven't got much. But you're welcome to look at whatever we do have. I brought along some of the photos. They really don't give any clues, but you never know. I've got copies of the fingerprints on disk, and…Well, really, that's all I've got."

"We've got handwriting samples. I was just working on picking up more fingerprints. Race was looking into maybe getting some shoe prints. We also received a note, though there are no clues there as to who our photographer might be. Still, take a look at it, if you want. I'd like to stick the fingerprints from your files into our computers and see if we get anything."

Dougan handed over the disk as Benton slid him the note. Race took the digital camera from the forensics kit he'd taken with him and hooked it up to another computer to start working on the images he'd captured. Dougan picked up the note and scanned it quickly once before going back and reading it more thoroughly.

My Red-Headed Goddess,

I've finally been discovered, after all this time. I feel like Actaeon when he is caught spying on Artemis. Although I predict your reaction is likely much like hers, I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me. I knew I would be found out sooner or later. My secret emotions could not be hidden forever. But don't judge me so quickly.

This changes our relationship. Where before I loved you from afar without your knowing I even existed, now you have proof that I am here. A dream come true for me. And one step closer to my ultimate goal. To stand with you face to face. Close enough to touch.

I fear I have said too much. This is my first contact with you. I will give the actions that transpired time to sink in before I say more. Give me a chance.

Your Actaeon

"It certainly seems harmless enough," Dougan breathed to himself.

"Not when coupled with yesterday's other discoveries. This is no mere teenage infatuation," Benton reminded.

Dougan agreed and began to theorize. "No. The way he speaks to her as if she really were a goddess. He's made a role for her. One he can, no doubt, fantasize about. And his own role. Hoping to become the goddess' consort. Until he was discovered, he was content to admire her from afar."

Benton picked up on the line of thought. "But now we know he's out there, specifically, now that Jessie knows he exists, he wants more. He says himself her knowledge of him changes their relationship."

"But how?" Dougan wanted to know. "Will he force this meeting he wants so much? Or continue to merely hope for it to happen. Now that he's been discovered, how will this affect his behavior?"

"And what's the ultimate goal he speaks of?" Race's question was laced by a dangerous tone.

"It's hard to say. And scary to think about. Let's just hope for the best," Dougan said with determination.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Red Headed Goddess, 4/?  
Author: Heather  
Date: March 6, 2005  
Category: JJHR, Angst  
Summary: Jessie and Jonny head out for Rockport for the afternoon. Everything goes fine until the last minute. Also, Jonny muses on his feelings for Jessie.  
Disclaimer: I do not own JQ. I am only using the characters for my own unique story. I am using lyrics for the song "I'll be there for you" by "The Rembrandts" which is also the opening for "Friends". I do not own it, either.  
Author's Notes: Well, here's chapter 4. It's shorter than the others. But it's got some action at the end. And that's what counts.

Chapter 4: _I'll be there for you when the rain starts to pour. I'll be there for you like I've been there before. I'll be there for you, 'cause you're there for me too._

Jessie sat in the passenger seat of Jonny's sports car as they headed to the Flint household. Amanda was one of Jessie's best friends and had agreed to let them shower and eat there before Jessie went to volunteer at the hospital. They'd just played a couple of intense games of basketball with a couple friends from the high school varsity team. Jessie still wasn't sure how she'd convinced her dad to let her off Quest property, but she'd been glad for the distraction. And the exercise.

She alternated between toweling away sweat and sucking now luke warm water from an almost empty bottle. Jonny half hummed, half sang along with the song playing on the radio. It was kinda cute, kinda dorky the way he'd bop his head along as well. Jessie smiled to herself. The afternoon had turned out pretty well.

Jonny pulled into the Flint's driveway, and they both grabbed their bags with their extra change of clothes and headed in. They entered without knocking and Jessie called out for her best friend. Amanda appeared from the kitchen to greet her guests.

Amanda and Jessie had been friends since Amanda had moved to Rockport with her father. It had been an easy friendship to forge with all the similarities the two girls had. Both had ex I-1 agents for fathers. Thomas Flint and Race had served together for the agency and many missions. They both could sympathize over the loss of a parent, Jessie through the divorce and Amanda through her mother's death. Both girls were also strong willed and no-nonsense. Jonny knew to stay out of their way when the two were on a mission.

They had their differences as well. Physically, Amanda was shorter than Jessie by a couple inches, and not as slender. Her straight brown hair was usually cut short and never allowed to grow much past her shoulders and she had inherited her mother's pale blue eyes. Amanda also tended to be a lot more boy crazy than Jessie. Jonny often teased her about how she had a different boyfriend every week. Jessie dated conservatively, when she dated at all. Which was the way Jonny liked it.

Amanda pulled Jessie into a hug and pulled away again with a "Whew! Girl, you need a shower!"

"See, I told ya the smell was you," Jonny chuckled.

"What are you talking about, bleach head? You smell twice as bad!" Amanda turned her gaze to him.

Jessie triumphantly stuck her tongue out at Jonny.

"You both need to bathe," Tom Flint interrupted the trio. "You know where the showers are. Dinner will be ready by the time you finish."

The two headed up stairs, and parted ways to their respective bathrooms. Jessie headed for Amanda's private bathroom while Jonny took the main. He wasted no time in shedding his sweaty clothes and stepping into the hot stream of water. The humid bathroom was the perfect place to let his thoughts wander as the shower eased his tired muscles and washed away sweat and grime.

His mind wandered immediately to Jessie. She took up his every spare thought. And not just because he was worried about her at the moment. Even when everything was just fine he spent his free time thinking of her. He'd blame it on love, but he'd been doing it before he'd realized how he really felt about her.

Truthfully, Hadji had realized his feelings before he himself had. He remembered talking to Hadji in his room one day soon after they had all just narrowly cheated death-again. Jonny had been describing to his friend how absolutely terrified he'd felt when Jessie had almost…well, he couldn't remember the exact situation. But Jessie had been in danger, and Jonny had felt like someone was trying to fork up his heart like one would spaghetti noodles. Hadji had given him this look, Jonny could remember it vividly, and wondered what it meant.

It wasn't for another month that Jonny realized he loved Jessie. _I can't believe I was that dense._ It wasn't any significant or extremely emotional moment. They'd been walking down the hall at school heading for chemistry. Jessie had been describing how she'd gotten in trouble-again-because she had proved her honors algebra teacher wrong in front of the whole class-again. And it had just dawned on him. He loved her. He'd almost tripped over his own feet. He managed to stay cool. And she hadn't noticed anything. Just kept tirading about how it wasn't fair she was being punished for being intelligent.

For a while, after he'd come to the conclusion about his feelings for one of his two best friends, things had seemed so awkward. He hadn't known how to act around her anymore. But he wasn't sure whether to tell her. Hadji kept urging him to, but he just couldn't. And finally one day, when she had called him on his change in behavior, he had realized that he needed to just act the same. Play the great pretender. He couldn't let her know. It was too risky.

He'd gone over this many times in his head. And vocally to Hadji. It didn't make it any easier. It didn't change his mind, either. He still felt that it would be better not to tell her. To just harbor his feelings for her.

But wasn't that what this stalker had been doing for two years?

The water was beginning to cool off. Jonny needed to hurry and wash up. They'd be waiting for him downstairs to start dinner. He'd taken too much time. He had to stop thinking about her.

JQ

Jessie stepped into the kitchen feeling clean and rejuvenated. The spicy scent of taco seasonings filled the room and Tom Flint was scraping diced onions into a little bowl. He glanced at her as he reached for a tomato. "Amanda went to the store to grab a couple of things. She'll be back soon," he excused his daughter.

"Don't tell me. She just had to have extra spicy salsa," Jessie guessed with a grin, leaning against a nearby counter.

Tom laughed. "That and we were a little low on shredded cheese."

"Do you need help with anything?" Jessie offered.

"No, I've got it handled," Tom assured. " But you should phone your father. He called just before you showed up. Filled me in on what's going on."

Jessie nodded, the smile leaving her face. She'd managed to forget about her stalker for a few hours. It had been nice not to be bogged down by the thought. "I better go do that."

She crossed paths with Jonny on her way out of the kitchen. Tom watched from the corner of his eyes as the young man stopped his friend. He put his arms loosely around her shoulders and leaned in close to whisper something to her. Tom heard her giggle and as she walked on, he could she was smiling again. Not as carefree as before, but she no longer looked as if she carried the weight of the world.

"Mmmm, smells good. When do we eat?" Jonny asked, stirring the simmering hamburger and taking a whiff.

"When the girls get here. Have some patience, you human garbage disposal," Tom chuckled.

"Hey, you know what they say about growing boys," Jonny laughed, seating himself on one of the barstools.

"I also know what they say about children being seen and not heard," Tom hinted.

"I am no child," Jonny insisted.

Tom grunted. "Boy, you're still a kid to me."

Jonny chuckled and the men passed the next few moments in silence.

"So, Race called and filled you in on everything, huh?" Jonny inquired after a while.

Tom nodded as he finished with the tomatoes. "Of course he did. I didn't get all the details. But I know enough."

Jonny gave a half grin. "It's good to know she's got plenty of people looking out for her. We really appreciate everything you do for us."

Tom smiled back. "It's a fair trade."

"I've got the cheese and the spiciest salsa I could find. If everything's ready, let's eat," Amanda pronounced as she and Jessie returned.

"Here ye, here ye!" Jonny crowed.

Dinner was informal. Jonny and Jessie didn't have much time before they had to go again. But it was enjoyable. The food was good and the company great. Jonny and Amanda riffed at each other almost the whole time, between mouthfuls of Mexican food. Tom refereed when things got out of hand, and Jessie got in a comment every once in a while, but mostly just laughed. Jonny and Jessie stayed long enough to help clean up before jetting again.

Jonny really didn't want to go. It was one of the few places he felt safe other than his own home. He knew Jessie felt the same way. Amanda and her father walked them to the door. Tom stayed to watch until they pulled out of the driveway. He gave them one last wave as they drove off.

JQ

Jonny waited in the hospital lobby for Jessie to appear. He'd spent the last thee hours while she'd been volunteering running errands. Since his father and Race had just gotten into town they'd sent him with a list of things to do for them. Jonny hadn't minded. At least it was something for him to do while Jessie was busy.

"Hey, there you are," Jessie called as she came down the stairs.

"Ready to go?" Jonny asked, watching her approach.

She nodded, looking tired but happy.

"I was up helping out in the maternity ward. It was so fun helping to take care of the newborns. They're so tiny and cute," Jessie gushed as they headed out the door.

Jonny listened to her talk, liking the sound of her voice. It had a sweet calming quality to it. Especially at times like this when she was peacefully happy. It was why he always said something to get a reaction from her. Anything to hear her speak.

Jonny saw a flash from the corner of his eye just as they were entering the parking lot. Jessie had been telling him about premature born twins. He left her mid-sentence in a dead run, towards where he had seen the spark. Whoever it was must have seen him coming. He got up and began to run away. But he couldn't outrun Jonny, and the young man tackled him before he had taken ten steps.

The man wrestled against him, but Jonny kept him restrained on the ground. Lying on his stomach, his face wasn't visible. A camera lay on the ground a foot away where it had skittered when Jonny tackled the man. He heard Jessie's footsteps running up to them.

"Stay back," he called to her as he struggled with his hostage to get a better look.

He heard the footsteps stop just in time for the man beneath him to get his breath back and start yelling at him. Between curses and name calling he demanded Jonny get off and let him go. He continued to struggle, but Jonny managed to turn the guy over without loosing too much control.

"Who are you?" Jonny spat the question.

"I meant no harm," the guy answered back immediately, seeing the dangerous glint in the young man's eyes.

"What were you doing?"

"I just wanted a couple pictures," the man assured.

"For what?"

"To sell to the media!"

Jonny narrowed his eyes and looked the man over. He was older, probably in his late thirties to mid-forties. He had a large gut on him as well as a days worth of beard along his jaw and was balding. With a shake of his head he got off the man and let him up.

"Why were you hiding?" Jonny asked when they were on their feet. His tone wasn't as harsh, but he was still wary.

"You Quest Clan are private people. Knew I wasn't gonna get my picture if I just asked."

"So, you thought you'd just take?" Jonny could feel the anger rising again.

"Ain't illegal. Plenty of paparazzi take pictures of famous people and sell'em to the press all the time."

"Doesn't make it right."

"Same thing goes for your tackling me," the guy shot back.

Jonny didn't reply. He had spotted Jessie coming around behind the photographer. He watched as she picked up the camera. It was of professional quality with the telescoping lens and oversized flashbulb. Not a bad piece of machinery. He must have paid well for it.

"Hey, what are you doing?" the man asked, catching sight of Jessie with his camera. He took a step toward her. Jonny caught his arm.

"Woah, don't go near her," he warned.

"I want my camera back," the man growled.

"You'll get it," Jessie assured him as she looked it over.

In a couple of seconds she pushed a button and the film tray cover popped open. Jessie pulled out the film with no care to proper handling or exposure. Quickly, she detached the film from its cartridge and let it fly away in the evening breeze. The man protested loudly, fighting Jonny's grip on his arm, but neither teen gave the man any consideration.

Jessie walked close enough to hand the camera back to its owner. Jonny released the guy and he snatched his property back. Jessie stepped over next to Jonny once she was free of the thing.

"You guys are gonna pay for that film I lost. And my camera if there are any damages. Even one scratch," the man threatened, holding the small machine as if it were a hurt puppy.

"Get out of here," Jonny told the man, ready to be away from the place.

The man backed away, still muttering about the destroyed film and the valuable pictures that had been on it. Jessie pulled at Jonny's shirt sleeve to get him to move.

"Serves him right," he muttered himself, following his friend to the car.


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Red Headed Goddess, 5/?

Author: Goddess Evie

Date: Reposted on September 23, 2007, Originally posted on March 23, 2007

Category: JJHR, Angst

Summary: Jonny and Jessie fight and Hadji steps in to do some healing. Is it effective? Plus, another package comes.

Disclaimer: I do not own JQ. I am only using the characters for my own unique story. I am using lyrics for the song "Cold" by "Crossfade." I do not own it, either.

Author's Notes: I guess this really isn't an eventful chapter. And I really can't promise when the next chapter will be out. Sorry guys! Maybe I'll have a new, possibly finished, fic to tempt and distract you all with! We'll see! As always, let me know what you think.

Chapter 5: _Looking back at me I see that I never really got it right. I never stopped to think of you. I'm always wrapped up in things I cannot win._

"You completely overreacted!"

"I did not! It could have been him!"

"But it wasn't."

"Luckily. But if it had been…"

"That's not the point."

"Then what is?"

"That I don't need you protecting me from paparazzi!"

"I'm sorry I care!"

"Care all you want. Just don't go around trying to be a hero. I can take care of myself."

Jonny started to reply, but Race was cutting in. He and Benton stood in the hallway leading from the front entrance to the rest of the house, intending to settle the argument. "What's all the yelling about?" Benton eyed both teens, his arms folded across his chest. Race stood with his hands on his hips.

Neither teen answered for a second, eyeing each other and expecting the other to speak. After a moment Jessie sighed. "Jonny tackled a reporter."

Jonny's eyes widened at her answer and he turned to his guardians, who were now looking at him, silently demanding an explanation. Quickly he began to go into better detail than Jessie, shooting her an annoyed look as he did.

"We were leaving the hospital when I saw a flash in the bushes and I-"

"Tackled a reporter," Jessie cut in.

"Who could have been your photo happy stalker," Jonny added with venom, in a last attempt to make her see his point.

Race cleared his throat, sending the two back to their corners to angrily glare at each other. He and Benton had a good system worked out, Benton doing all the talking while Race handled the muscle.

"Are you sure this reporter was taking pictures of you?"

Both teens nodded.

"Why?"

They shrugged in unison. "Jessie took the liberty of destroying his film. He wasn't too happy about that," Jonny tattled.

"He wasn't too happy about being tackled either," Jessie sneered.

"And I'm not happy about you guys sitting here arguing about it. Now will you both stop attacking each other?" Benton demanded, causing the teens to finally look a little guilty. He continued. "Jonny, perhaps you should have shown a little restraint and assessed the situation more before taking action."

Jessie smiled smugly.

"Although, I understand why you did what you did."

Now Jonny took on the smug smile.

"And Jessie. I don't believe it was necessary to vandalize another person's property, despite recent events."

She scowled, avoiding Race and Benton's looks.

"Now both of you go up to your rooms. We've all had a long day and I think it's time everyone got some sleep," Benton finally finished, he and Race moving aside to let their children through.

Jonny and Jessie filed by them silently, heads hung as they headed for the stairs. They could feel their fathers' unhappy gazes boring into the back of their heads as they passed. Everyone's nerves were starting to get taut.

"Look, Jess," Jonny began when they were at the top of the stairs, knowing he'd have to apologize for this one and instill peace between them once more.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore. I just want you to remember that I don't. Need. Protecting."

Her door slammed angrily and Jonny snarled. Fine, if she wanted to be angry he could be angry, too. He'd just see how well she fared when he wasn't there to tackle the hidden people trying to photograph her. He stomped into his own room and slammed his door closed.

JQ

Sleep did not come easily for Jessie, but it did come: in fits of restless tossing and turning and bouts of nightmares that woke her shaking from the vivid imagery still fresh in her mind. Each time she would squeeze her eyes shut and force the images from her mind as well as the shadow that seemed to cling to her. She imagined her fathers arms once again wrapped around her, his embrace tight and protecting. It also helped to picture his reassuring smile and love filled gaze. Race never let her down, not even when he wasn't really there.

When she finally calmed herself, she would lie down again, pulling her cream-colored sheet and soft, downy comforter over her shoulders and will herself to sleep. She used a trick Hadji had recommended a few years back, and that she had found worked for her. Starting with her feet, she would make herself believe that each part of her body was so heavy, so weighed down that it was actually sinking into the bed. From her feet she would move to her ankles, her calves, her knees, her thighs, hips, stomach, moving up and up until she felt so heavy that sleep would come easily. Some nights she didn't get past her lower extremities. Other times, like now, she sometimes had to go through the process two or three times before it would work for her.

And then she would sleep, but not peacefully. At times when she awoke she could fault it to nothing more than an intense sense of foreboding. Often enough the visions her mind created were more than enough to rend her violently from sleep. And each time she was glad to be awake again, so she could tell herself that it was only a dream, that she was safe in bed, and that she really needed to get some real sleep.

Periodically, as she lay awake, she could hear movement outside her door. Dr. Quest and her father speaking quietly as they walked by. Hadji moving around in his room finishing some small chores before he caught some sleep, and most likely debating if some light meditation or yoga would be beneficial. Jonny was restless on her other side. She could hear him tossing and turning in his bed, though whether it was from fitful sleep or the inability to find it, she couldn't be sure. She knew he was worried about her, but she didn't want to think about that. She was too worried about herself to add another's pain for her onto the load. Especially one she was still angry at.

Her alternating periods of consciousness and unconsciousness lasted through the night as the compound quieted and her alarm clock ticked by the hours. She alternated between awake and asleep many times before she finally rose from her bed again, defeated. It was still early, her clock said five thirty. She walked to her window and peeked out through the curtains. The sun was just beginning to rise, casting the sky in glowing hues of reds, oranges and golds as it appeared over the trees of the small wood that still covered much of the island the Quest Compound had been built on. Jessie suddenly felt the urge to do something active, go out for a run along the tree line of the forest, the cliffs over looking the sea, even the small private beach. She'd often enjoyed the variety of scenery the compound offered.

However, after what happened the last time she had gone for a run out on the grounds of Quest owned property, she opted instead for a treadmill in the exercise room of the mansion. It did face an eastern window, so she could watch morning break in all its glorious colors until the sky finally settled down to a calm blue. A few wispy clouds played in the otherwise uninterrupted sky. The hum of the treadmill, constant movement of her body, and beautiful scenery before her helped to distract her for a short time. She also found the time to reinforce her mind and set her determination against the inevitable stress of the next few days. She couldn't let it get to her. She couldn't let HIM get to her. No matter what. Life HAD to go on. It always did.

Jessie was only slightly surprised to find she had let herself run for an hour. Really, it wasn't long enough. She needed to find something more to distract her for a few hours before her day really began. Something to take her mind off yesterday and keep those images from popping into her mind. Perhaps a nice relaxing bath paired with the last of her summer reading for her Senior English class.

She toweled at the sweat she had built up as she jogged up the steps, thankfully without running into Jonny, and back to her room. The morning sunshine filled it now, lighting it up with a cheerful glow that didn't have the usual effect on Jessie as it usually did. She loved the mornings, the peace and serenity, and the feeling that something great could happen that accompanied every sunrise. That feeling seemed empty and false this morning.

_Snap out of it, Bannon_, Jessie ordered herself mentally. _Stop moping around. You've been in worse situations. So what if a guy took a thousand or so pictures of you in the last couple of years? You've teetered on the edge of life and death. This is nothing_.

She grabbed clean underwear and clothes from her drawers and slammed them shut with finality. She wasn't going to let this small inconvenience ruin her day, or her mood. Jonny had managed that enough. _I'm going to enjoy my day today_, she promised herself in a quiet but determined mutter as she made her way to the bathroom, holding her head high with resolve. _I won't even let Jonny ruin it._

JQ

Hadji waited for just the right moment to approach Jessie. He knew that with her he had to act tactfully and, more importantly, strategically. If she thought he was coming to her in an attempt to soothe her feelings, she would just push him away. Instead, he had to act like all he wanted was to offer an afternoon activity.

He had, of course, heard the fight between her and Jonny the night before. Those two never had silent brawls. Both were too passionate and stubborn to fight subtly. Of course, that made Hadji's job easier when it came to fixing the hurt feelings. At least he always knew what the issue was.

He'd approached Jonny the night before, soon after both had retired to their rooms per their fathers' orders. Jonny was the easy one. He and Hadji had been family for so long that Jonny immediately opened up, no matter the problem. All Hadji'd had to do was take a seat on Jonny's desk chair and Jonny had begun his tirade. After ten minutes of ranting and raving, Jonny's chatter had finally turned to reasoning. As Hadji listened, he could tell that Jonny was still frustrated, but at least he wasn't just mad.

As Hadji thought about it he realized that Jonny had gotten to the point where he could go through the entire process without Hadji having to say a single word. All it took was his presence for Jonny to get started. The only thing Hadji had to do was offer a few words of sage advice. Often, and this had been the case the night before, Hadji had cautioned patience.

Although Jessie's door was closed, and that was usually a sign that she didn't want to be bothered, Hadji rapped loudly. He waited for a response and, when he didn't get one, knocked again. Still there was no response, but Hadji was a determined soul. He knocked one more time and finally heard Jessie's muffled voice call out to him.

"It is I, Hadji," he called back. "May I come in?"

There was a pause. "Sure."

Quietly he slipped in. She lay on her bed, reading a Time magazine. At least, she was staring at it.

"I was wondering if you'd like to join me for some movies. I had Jonny pick a couple up from town last night," he asked.

"I'm not really in the mood, Hadj," Jessie insisted.

"Oh, come on. I even rented _The Grudge_. You have been dieing to see that one," Hadji cajoled, pulling the Time magazine down from in front of her face.

He smiled and winked at the sour expression she gave him. She rolled her eyes and sighed loudly and gave in. Twenty minutes later they were downstairs in the den with sodas, popcorn and Sarah Michelle Gellar on the big screen TV. Hadji allowed himself a little smile as he glanced over at Jessie to see her transfixed with the plot of the movie. She was doing that thing hypnotized movie watchers did, robotically eating one kernel of popcorn at a time. He suppressed a snicker.

The movie progressed in silence, just as Hadji wanted it. He wasn't going to say anything to her. He needed to wait for her to strike up the conversation. She would eventually. She always did. Some times just took longer than others.

As he waited, Hadji found himself pulled into the story. The plot line of the movie was actually decent. The scare factor didn't affect him, nor did it Jessie. They both had seen too many real life horrors to be scared by anything in a movie. But the plot line was handled both seriously and eloquently. It didn't rely on blood and gore to scare its viewers. Which was why Hadji had never really been into scary movies until now.

"Don't go into the house!" Jessie suddenly yelled, throwing remnants of their popcorn at the screen.

"He is going after Karen because he is worried," Hadji defended the character's actions.

"Stupid man. He's only causing more trouble," Jessie objected. "If he read her research, he would know about the house. So why is he going in there?"

"In case she is in there," Hadji repeated his earlier defense. "He truly cares about her."

"If he cared, he'd stay away," Jessie advised. "He's not doing her any good by getting himself into the same boat she's in."

"He wants to save her, protect her," Hadji told her. "He knows about the house and that she has been in it. Now he hopes he can do something to stop it."

"But," Jessie began again, sighing a bit and watching the movie a little closer for a while.

Hadji kept silent, eyes on the TV but ears attuned to Jessie.

"But that means he'll get hurt, too," she finally finished quietly, gaze transfixed on the action before them.

"It does not matter. Not to him," Hadji kept his voice quiet as well, attuning his reactions to her.

"But it does. She wouldn't want him to go in there. She doesn't. But she was too late," Jessie shook her head. "Besides, obviously she's not such a push over. She figured out a lot by herself." She stopped and giggled before adding, "And Buffy's kicked lots of nether worldly ass. What's one ghost?"

Hadji chuckled along with his friend. "But she has left her slayer pals behind. Can she defeat this new evil without them?"

Jessie grinned. "Let's watch the end of the movie and find out."

Detective Dougan arrived at the Quest compound about mid-afternoon. He was greeted, once again, by Race, who led him straight to the light house. Dougan saw the blood vessels standing out in the man's eyes and the dark circles beneath them. But he didn't once let himself believe that Race Bannon was working at any less than a hundred percent.

In the lighthouse lab, Dr. Quest perched on a stool, looking only slightly better rested than Race. He looked up when Race and the Detective entered, offering Dougan a weary smile and a handshake. Dougan shook it firmly, trying to convey his sympathy in a look.

"Anything new?" he asked.

"We've got as much of those footprints transferred and reconstructed into digital format as possible. But we didn't have much to go on. The fingerprints are still running, with no matches, yet," Benton summarized.

"Have you managed to get any clues about who we're dealing with?" Race asked quickly.

Dougan clicked open his briefcase and pulled out a large sheet from a sketchpad. "The artist's rendition is finished. It's not as good as it could be, but we don't have a professional working for us like the Feds."

He held out the crude sketch to the two gentlemen before him. He could see Race's expert eye drinking in every detail. Unfortunately, the sketch really wasn't going to be much help. It didn't have the realistic features it needed for it to be really helpful.

"We also recorded the conversation between the artist and the witnesses. We stuck to the three who thought they knew what he looked like best. I don't know if it'll help, but I thought I'd bring it along just in case," Dougan offered.

Benton took the tape from Dougan. "I'm going to have IRIS analyze the conversation. We better show Jessie the sketch, in case she can recognize the face. Then I'd like to scan it into the computer, to have something for IRIS to work from."

"Good idea, Benton. Perhaps IRIS can construct a better picture," Race looked a little more eager, with the prospect of new evidence. He looked at Dougan, and with a nod led the man out of the lab and towards the main house.

Jessie was in the den with Hadji, who was just ejecting a DVD from the player. There were a couple of soda cans and an oily bowl with unpopped kernels in the bottom of it. At least Race could be glad that Jessie wasn't spending her time brooding in her room.

"Jessie, we've got an artist's rendition of the alleged suspect based on the descriptions of three witnesses," Dougan told her as he took a seat next to her, holding the picture in his hands but not showing it to her.

"I think I will go, uh, see if the mail has arrived," Hadji excused himself.

Race sat down next to his daughter and they took each other's hands automatically.

"Ponchita, you need to study the picture very carefully and let us know if you recognize the person," Race whispered to her.

"I'm afraid it's not a very good sketch, but it's better than nothing," Dougan added. He took a deep breath and exchanged a look with Race before proffering the picture.

Jessie held it in her hands and stared at it. Her eyes roved over the details just as her father's had, Dougan noticed. She took a long time to look at it. Race and the Detective were respectfully silent.

"Anything?" Race finally asked.

Jessie shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut as she handed the picture back to Detective Dougan. "I don't know this person."

"Alright, I'll get this back to Dr. Quest, then," Dougan began to rise.

"There is another package," Hadji's voice gushed, drawing all three gazes to where he stood in the doorway. He was a little out of breath, and he held the said object up so that everybody could see Jessie's name scrawled upon it in the same flowing script.

JQ

Jessie accompanied the men back to the lab. Hadji had decided to stay in the house after handing over the package. They handled it the same as the first one, donning latex gloves and handling everything gingerly. Jessie picked up and read the letter as the three men looked over the pictures. It was shorter than the last. But the man behind the writing had a way of conveying what he meant in a few words.

My Red Headed Goddess,

When I see you, I understand why Paris seduced Helen into coming to Troy with him. I look for my chance to do the same thing with you. It would be worth any war to have you by my side.

Your Paris

She slid the letter over to her father, who was watching her, and began to look over the pictures. They were from the day before. When she and Jonny were playing basketball. Beautiful pictures, really. Like you'd expect to see in Sports Illustrated. Except, of course, they were of her, taken by an unknown person who was stalking her.

"Some say Helen was seduced away," Benton spoke after he had read the letter. "But some argue she was taken against her will."

His comments didn't help to lighten the mood.

"He works fast," Jessie said, moving the conversation in a different direction. "All the pictures were taken and developed and delivered within a day."

"He does it all himself. Photo shoot and development. He's very good. These could be professional quality," Dougan commented.

"He's got to get his supplies from somewhere, though," Race suddenly reminded. "There are a few camera shops around Rockport, but not a lot that would actually sell the developing chemicals."

I'll get someone on that," Dougan volunteered.

"No, I'll do it myself," Race decided, then amended. "But tomorrow. Let's take our time analyzing this stuff, first."

"I'm going to scan the artist's depiction into the computer and see what IRIS comes up with. She can compare both the original sketch and the 3-D model she compiles with the faces of known criminals. I'll send a copy with you as well for the witnesses so they can suggest changes," Benton left the lab table for a section of computer.

"There's no point in lifting anymore fingerprints or taking more handwriting samples," Dougan sighed. "All we can do is wait."


	6. Chapter 6

Title: Red Headed Goddess, 6/?

Author: Goddess Evie

Date: July 5, 2007

Category: JJHR, Angst

Summary: Jonny and Jessie make up.

Disclaimer: I do not own JQ. I am only using the characters for my own unique story. I am using lyrics for the song "Disappear" by "Hoobastank." I do not own it, either.

Author's Notes: Another uneventful chapter. This story really just needed some light fun before we delve into the serious, dark stuff. Hope this is enough to tide you over until the next chapter comes out! I have to say, though, it was way fun writing the three teens hanging out together! I liked giving Hadji a little bit of humor!

Review Replies:

Sweetluck- Thanks for the wonderful review. I know I'm probably not turning this out as quickly as you'd like, but I hope this small offering will appease you and convince you to leave me another review to motivate me to write more! I'm really enjoying the way I'm portraying the characters. Usually I lay the romance on thick, but I think I like it better this way. And I am honored you think I am keeping the characters close to the original. That is my goal with every fandom I write for!

Danya- Where I'm going to take this? Well, not to ruin any surprises, but after this chapter it's going to start getting darker. I won't say how, I'll just give you the warning. Heheh. I really haven't been leaving any clues as to who the stalker is. He's an OOC villain dude. Next chapter will have a small clue, but not enough to allow anyone to point any fingers. It's really been interesting writing a fanfic in which the villain has yet to show up. But it won't be long now. Dang it, I'm giving away too much!

Laura- Old news or not, I still LOVE this show and it's still my favorite to write fanfiction for! You can probably tell by how many of my stories are JQ based. If it's sad that you're still obsessed with it, then hand me a tissue, cause I'm still obsessed, too! And I'm so honored that you think my humble little JQ story is worth reading! I would agree at least compared to most of the other JQ fics I've submitted to this site. Heheh, like I told Sweetluck, I usually lay on the J/J Romance pretty thick, and they're admitting their feelings for each other halfway through the fic. This time, I'm having fun hinting at it without it being the center of the whole story. I'm trying not to forget about this story, but I have others that need working on as well, including a separate JQ story altogether that is already humongous! (I'm currently working on chapter 13 and the chapters tend to be around 10 pages each in Microsft Word. But it's far from ready to be posted!) I'll do my best in finishing this story, though!

Chapter 6: _Do you know that every time you're near, everybody else seems far away?_

Jessie left the lab silently, slipping away while the three men worked at the little evidence they had. Evidence that was no closer to identifying who her stalker was than when he had been discovered three days ago. It was really quite scary how careful this guy was being. Did it mean he had some kind of training? Government, maybe? It was a scary idea and one Jessie would have to bring up to her dad, but some other time.

Right now she needed to go find Jonny and fix things with him. Hadji was always so subtle in the way he got her to see how tunnel-visioned she was being. She never ever saw it coming. Mostly because she was so tunnel-visioned and too focused on her anger to see him wheedling his logic and sense into her.

Arriving back at the house, she decided to do her own search for Jonny before turning to IRIS. Luckily, she didn't have to search long. As she was passing the kitchen she saw him sitting on a barstool alone eating half a sandwich. She paused for a moment to watch him, noticing the dullness in his usually bright blue eyes and how he seemed more tired than usual. They were all that, but with Jonny it went past bloodshot eyes and dark circles. It was like he was too tired even to smile.

Jessie forced herself to enter the kitchen, offering a "Hey," to Jonny. He looked over his shoulder, noticing her light, friendly tone. "Hey," he replied back, eyeing her.

She tried to act natural. She couldn't remember the last time she had tried to eat, so went about making toast. It was quick and easy and hopefully something she could stomach. It also gave her time to think about what she should say since she hadn't yet put thought to it.

She turned to face him as she waited for the toaster to pop. He had turned on his stool 90 degrees so he could keep an eye on her. He continued to eat his sandwich, waiting for her to make the first move. They watched each other unsurely for a while in silence.

_This is stupid. Just say something_, Jessie scolded herself.

"I'm sorry," she was finally able to say. "I overreacted last night."

He didn't respond at first, shoving the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth. Jessie knew he was only taking time to consider his response and make sure she was done speaking.

"Jessie," he said once he had swallowed, "you know I only protected you because I care so much about you and can't stand to see you hurt. You're part of the family." He added that last part because it was sounding too much like the love confession he wasn't ready to make. "You know that I know that you can take care of yourself. But that doesn't mean I'm just going to ignore your safety and expect you to do it alone."

She nodded at him, saying nothing.

"And it's what I'd expect you to do for me."

Her toast popped at that moment, interrupting them. Jessie moved quickly to spread butter on it before it cooled. She brought it over to sit next to Jonny, taking the stool adjacent to his.

"I know," she said, nibbling at a piece. "I just, I don't want you getting hurt trying to protect me."

She looked into his impossibly blue eyes to add emphasis to her statement. He smiled at her, the energy returning to him. She found she could breathe easier to see the smile back on his face.

"Hey, let's make a deal. I promise not to get hurt if you do."

Jessie laughed at that and nodded, taking a bite of buttery toast. Jonny reached out and rested an arm on her shoulder, raising one blonde eyebrow. "Friends?"

"Best," she replied, grinning to match his.

He pulled her into a hug and she wrapped her arms around him, glad the fight was over.

JQ

That night found Jessie sandwiched between her two best friends on a couch in front of a big screen TV. Loaded down with popcorn, sodas and the rest of Hadji's rented movies, the three teens were ready for a film fest. And since no one at the compound was getting any sleep anyway, there was no reason not to stay up.

Detective Dougan had left a few hours ago and their dads were still out in the lab trying to find anything new that would get them one step closer to figuring out the identity of Jessie's photographer stalker. But she wasn't going to think about that tonight. She was going to allow Hadji, Jonny and a few movies distract her for the night.

With all three of them together, they had a hard time paying attention to the movies. Race or Benton would walk by every once in a while, taking a break from their work and checking on their kids. Most of the time they had coffee cups in their hands, usually steaming on the second pass.

Jonny started a popcorn fight during the second movie when he non-chalantly threw a handful at Jessie. He kept eating the next handful he grabbed like he hadn't done anything, but the wicked smile he wore identified him as the culprit. Within moments the air was filled with flying kernels. Hadji upped the ante when he walloped Jonny in the back of the head with a pillow. After that it was full blown war.

Benton and Race's combined voices halted the three teens where they were sprawled on the floor covered in popcorn and still trying to hurl pillows at each other while simultaneously wrestling. Still, as they relaxed and looked at their parents, they couldn't get rid of the identical grins they all wore.

Jessie found she was lying with her head on Hadji's stomach, the pillow she'd been beating Jonny with still clutched in her fist. Jonny was lying across her legs, effectively trapping her to the floor, and Hadji had Jonny in a headlock. They all breathed heavily as they looked up at their fathers with red faces and laughter in their eyes.

"I find anything broken in the morning and all three of you are grounded," Benton threatened, but the teens on the floor could hear the amusement in his voice.

"And you guys are cleaning up this mess tomorrow," Race added, shaking his head to hide his own smile.

Hadji, Jonny and Jessie managed to disentangle themselves and make it back to the couch. The movie, forgotten, was still playing, and as they adjusted and got comfortable again Jonny asked if anyone had seen what had happened during their battle. Jessie suggested rewinding but Hadji assured them that he could fill them in on everything that had happened and proceeded to make up an outlandish storyline to fill in the unseen gap.

"No," Jessie objected, "You see, this is what happened." And she launched into her own version, trying to outdo Hadji's plot line in absurdness and oddities. When she was finished, Jonny was shaking his head. "You're BOTH wrong," he assured them, before telling them the craziest story that included anything and everything supernatural he could think of, often borrowing and mixing some of their adventures into his tale. By the time he was done all three were laughing so hard that Jonny could hardly find breath to finish his story.

The night continued in much the same fashion. Watching movies only in the sense of sitting on a couch with popcorn and drinks in front of a TV where a movie was playing. How much of their attention was actually paid to the film was questionable. They spent more time laughing at each other than any comedic exploit on the big screen.

By the end of the last movie, and none of them even wanted to know what time it was, they were all tired and discussing turning off the TV and heading off to bed. But none of them moved, sprawled all over each other and already falling asleep. That was how Benton and Race found them, when they finally came in from the lighthouse to retire for the night.

Silently they moved to spread blankets over the three and work in a couple of pillows. Benton turned off the TV and DVD player, trying not to grind popcorn kernels into the carpet any more than the three teens already had. Race gently kissed Jessie's forehead and smoothed her hair before he followed Benton out of the room, softly ordering Iris to extinguish all lights.

JQ

Amazingly, Jonny was the first to awaken the next morning. He blinked at the sunlight streaming into the room through the bulletproof picture windows flanking the large TV. The clock on the DVD player (the Quest's had to be the only family in the world who actually knew how to set those) said it was after 10: 30 but not quite 11. Habitually his hands moved to rub at his tired baby blues, but only one was willing-or perhaps able-to move. Rubbing with his one free hand, and running it through his bed head, he looked to his right and smiled.

Jessie still slept, leaning against his arm and effectively trapping it. On the other side of her, Hadji was peacefully resting, as well, his feet and legs cradled in Jessie's lap, head pillowed on the arm of the couch. The blankets draped across all three had to have been the work of their fathers, because Jonny didn't remember any of them getting them.

As rarely as it happened, Jonny loved waking up next to Jessie. Especially if he managed to wake up first. Watching her sleep was such a treat for him. More desirable to him than having the high score in Quest World, learning a new judo move from Race, or getting to try out his father's latest gadget. He yearned to caress the stray locks of hair falling over her cheek, smiled gently at her ruddy lashes against her pale skin, and relished in her warm weight against his side. For a brief moment he very lightly rested his own blonde head on hers, his eyes closed.

However, Jonny also realized the predicament he was in. He was unwilling to wake Jessie prematurely, which he'd have to do in order to get off the couch. He was awake for the day, so falling asleep again until his two friends woke was not an option. His stomach rumbled hungrily, letting him know that the popcorn and sodas from last night had long run out and it wanted breakfast. And the position that had been oh so comfortable the night before now left him cramped and needing to stretch like he was at the end of a long flight, private Quest jet, or no. Feeling more trapped than he ever had in his life, Jonny looked at his brother and his best friend now with a little glare.

Jonny sighed. He had no choice but to resign himself to his fate. Until at least Jessie woke, he wasn't going anywhere. He rested his head on the back of the couch, wondering how long he was stuck. He closed his eyes and wished fervently for many long minutes that he could indeed just fall back asleep. Jessie stirred, but Jonny ignored her, figuring she was just trying to find a more comfortable situation to continue sleeping in. When she moved again, he lifted his head a little and opened an eye to peek at her.

Her jungle green eyes were blinking up at him as she went through the same morning routine he just had: rubbing eyes, pushing away unruly hair. She had the glory of stretching, and she pulled one arm from her blanket to do so, quickly tucking it back in when she was done. Jonny had lifted his head and opened both eyes to watch her with a smile as she looked at Hadji and laughed to herself at his feet in her lap. Then she turned that smile onto Jonny.

_I hope you never have a reason not to smile like that everyday_, he silently thought to her.

"Morning," she mumbled.

"Sleep well?" Jonny asked her with a grin.

"Mmmm," she nodded, snuggling against him.

Jonny certainly didn't complain. "We haven't fallen asleep during a movie like this since Hadji was fourteen."

"Well, technically, we fell asleep after the movie," Jessie corrected.

Jonny rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You know what I mean."

Jessie nodded, her giggling fading into a comfortable silence between the two. They sat for a few moments, both of them watching Hadji continue to sleep like a baby. Curled up on his side with a blanket tucked up to his chin, with his turban now off kilter from his slumber, he really did look like a baby.

"So, what do you want to do today?" Jonny suddenly asked.

Jessie looked back up at him with a grin. It was a tradition they held from their first fight that after they made up, they'd spend a day together. Sometimes Hadji came along, but usually they just kept it between themselves. Jonny watched her debate their possibilities in her mind.

"I don't know," she finally responded with a little frown before her face fell completely. "Besides, dad probably won't even let me leave this house."

The unspoken "not until" descended heavily between them. Jonny silently pleaded to go back to the smile she'd graced him with when she'd first awaken.

"Hey, don't be so sure. We've never missed a make-up date, yet. I'm not about to let that happen, now," Jonny told her determinedly. "So, you keep thinking about what you want to do."

Jessie threw an arm around his waist, hugging Jonny, and he managed to free the arm she had trapped beneath her and wrap it around her shoulders. _I'll take care of you_, he promised her softly. _No matter how mad at me you get, I'll always take care of you_.

JQ

An hour later, all three teens were awake and had eaten, showered and dressed in varying orders. Jessie could hear Hadji in the bathroom still as she jogged downstairs. Although the threat of her stalker still loomed over her like an overcast sky, Jessie felt good this morning. Better than she had since the day she had walked into the room to see thousands of pictures of herself staring back at her. Perhaps it was because of the carefree night she'd spent with her best friends and the nostalgia of waking up with them in a tangle on a couch that was now just a little on the too small side for them to be doing that. Or maybe it had to do with making up with Jonny after their fight.

Jessie slowed when she heard voices coming from the kitchen. She wasn't sure why, but she felt the need to not intrude on the conversation.

"I promise we'll be really careful."

That was Jonny.

"I'm not worried about that, Jonny," her father's voice responded lightly, assuringly. "I just don't like the idea of Jess, or any of you, being off the compound grounds when we have no idea who the guy even is."

"I wouldn't even ask if you weren't going into town, too," Jonny wheedled.

"Yes, you would," Race laughed.

Jessie smiled, too.

"Fine, but you know Jess doesn't take kindly to being caged," Jonny reminded. "She fares much better in any situation if she doesn't feel like she's being locked up and protected."

Maybe you did learn something from our fight, Jessie thought to herself from around the corner.

She heard her father's sigh and his reply. "Jessie isn't the only one I'm worried about."

"Hey, if I see any more flashes from bushes, I promise to tackle them, whether they be more reporters, kids playing a prank, or the guy himself. Even if it does mean incurring Jess' wrath again."

Jessie laughed to herself along with Jonny's chuckling at his own statement. As Race sarcastically replied, "That's exactly what I wanted to hear," Jessie could hear mirth in her father's voice at Jonny's statement, as well.

There was a silence, then, and Jessie knew this was the pivotal point. She could picture the look on her dad's face as he debated the issue, deeply turning the pros and cons in his mind. Jonny was experienced enough to keep his mouth shut. The moments she waited for his final verdict felt like an eternity, but finally her father exhaled loudly and acquiesced, "Alright, you two can go. But only when I do and you come back home when I do."

Jessie took a moment to silently triumph to herself before bounding into the kitchen, hoping she looked like she hadn't been standing there for the last five minutes, as Jonny excitedly thanked Race and assured him they'd abide by his rules. Father and daughter shared a smile as Jessie grabbed a piece of fruit from the basket on the counter and Jonny turned to her with a grin that, had she not just been eavesdropping on his conversation with her father, would have told her he'd gotten permission.

"So, did you make up your mind?" Jonny asked her.

"Yeah, I just want to do something simple, like…a walk in the park. You know the completely natural one on the south side of town without any sports courts or playgrounds?" Jessie answered.

Jonny nodded. "Sounds good to me." He turned to look at Race, "So when are you going?"

"Soon," Race looked at his watch, "like in the next ten minutes."


	7. Chapter 7

Title: Red Headed Goddess, 7?

Author: Goddess Evie

Date: August 28, 2007

Category: JJHR, Angst

Summary: A trip into town.

Disclaimer: I do not own JQ. I am only using the characters for my own unique story. I am using lyrics for the song "Are You Ready?" by "Creed." I do not own it, either.

Author's Notes: Things are starting to heat up again a little. Jessie and Jonny hang out, Race gets a little bit closer to figuring out who the stalker is. But he's frustrated just a little. The plot should really take off next chapter! We're heading into the climax of the story!

Chapter 7: _Hey, Mr. Seeker, hold on to this advice: If you keep seeking you will find._

Ten minutes was plenty of time for Jonny and Jessie to get ready. The two were walking out with Race when a car pulled up and Detective Dougan climbed out. The trio paused to greet him and escort him to the lab where Dr. Quest was waiting. It was merely a courtesy since there was no new evidence to process. Detective Dougan did, however, have a little bit of insight to share.

"All the photos were taken here in Rockport," Dougan said opening his brief case and shuffling through it.

"That means it's definitely a local guy, though we already kind of figured that out," Race replied.

"That was our theory, but this proves it," Dougan answered, adding, "Without any doubt."

"So, great, we've been living with this guy the whole time," Jessie mumbled only loudly enough for Jonny to hear.

But he wasn't really paying attention to her. One of the pictures in Dougan's briefcase had caught his eye and he was squinting to get a better look at it. It was upside down and halfway covered by a couple other photographs, but he thought it looked familiar. Without thinking, he reached out and picked it up by the edges, turning it to look at it the right way. He stared for a few moments before he realized everyone was looking at him.

"This picture looks familiar. I swear I've seen it before," he explained, looking at the photo even harder.

Jessie leaned against him to look at it as well and Jonny momentarily lost focus. But this was important, a clue, if he could just remember where he'd seen the picture before, so he forced himself to focus once more. The photo showed Jessie in a Rockport High Varsity Girls' Basketball uniform. Behind her the crowd in the bleachers of Rockport High-damn it, he'd been there, too!-was blurred. Jessie's ponytail was splashing all around her as she went up for a jump shot, the basketball just leaving her fingertips, a look of intense determination on her sweat drenched face.

Although Jonny knew he should be able to name where he'd seen this picture before, it just wasn't coming to him. Beside him, Jessie was also staring at it, trying to figure out the same thing. Finally, unable to come up with anything, Jonny handed the photo off. Race and then his own dad looked at it, and agreed they too recognized the picture, but could not remember why.

"Here," Dougan said, taking the picture and placing it into a clear baggie just big enough to hold it. "Take it with you and if you figure out where it's from, let me know."

Jonny nodded and took the bagged photo from the Detective.

"Come on you two, let's get going," Race said, sounding a little defeated.

Jonny suddenly smiled, hiding the picture behind his back as he remembered that he and Jessie had been given permission to spend a little time in town and alone. Putting his arm around Jessie's shoulders, the one not holding the picture, he steered his best friend back outside and toward the house ahead of Race.

"Dibs on driving," he said as they approached the bevy of Quest vehicles parked outside the garage.

"Dang it," Jessie complained, realizing she'd been a little too distracted.

"Aww, don't you trust me, Jess?" Jonny whined teasingly, leaning heavily on her.

"Only when you're not behind a steering wheel," Jessie replied sarcastically, shoving him off.

Jonny laughed and dug the keys out of the pocket of his jeans. He led Jessie towards the red convertible sports car Race had helped him restore. It had been his dad's birthday present to him on his sixteenth birthday coupled with Race's present of offering to help him fix it up. It had barely run at that point, just enough for Dr. Quest and Race to get it home from wherever they had acquired it. Within a year Jonny and Race had it purring as nicely as Race's own black super car and although the paint job still made it look like a junker, it ran as well as the day it came out of the factory, if not better.

The cherry red paint job with white racing stripes had been his seventeenth birthday present from his dad. A refurbished interior, red leather, had been Race's. Non-human, it was probably Jonny's most prized possession and he took good care of it. Knowing how much time and effort Jonny had put into it, Jessie treated it with the utmost respect as she slid into the passenger seat. Jonny shut her door just hard enough to securely latch it, then jogged around to the other side and climbed into the driver's seat.

Turning the ignition, both teens listened to the smooth thrum of the engine as Jonny pushed the button to lower the white leather convertible top. By the time the top was securely in the trunk, Race had finally caught up and was waiting for them. Waving, Jonny pulled out of the driveway and headed toward the main gate.

The sky was the perfect color blue and the mid-August afternoon was just a tad on the hot side with a cool breeze that blew idly, bringing relief from the heat with it. Jonny glanced at Jessie from the corner of his eye, as he sped the car out of the gate and onto the highway, so he could catch her glorious hair streaming behind her. She was smiling easily and naturally and Jonny prayed that nothing would happen during their afternoon in town to take that smile away.

Race stayed right behind them as they drove along the cliff-hugging highway. Jonny saw the gleam off the black hood every time he looked in his rearview mirror. It was about a half hour drive from the compound gates to the outskirts of Rockport. Most of the other drivers they passed were big trucks, though there were a few non-commercial vehicles; mostly kids out making the most of the last few days of summer before school began again.

Once they hit Rockport and the traffic increased, Race kept a close tail on them. If it had been anyone else, Jonny would have been worried about his paint job, but he'd driven with Race plenty of times to know how in control the man was behind the steering wheel of any car. A ten minute drive was all it took to make it to the natural park Jessie had chosen and both cars slipped smoothly into their parking spots along side the curb.

Race joined the two teens as they were shutting their doors, the white leather topper just coming back into place. Race and Jonny walked around the front of the car to join Jessie on the sidewalk. Race's eyes calmly scanned the surrounding landscape, and true to "father-daughter" fashion, Jessie was doing the same thing. Jonny watched the two exchange a look before Jessie turned to her friend with a smile and invited, "Ready to go?"

"I won't be gone long," Race cut in before they could head off. "There're only a couple of places that sell developing chemicals. You guys have a cell?"

Jonny dug in his pocket, pulled out the small silver flip phone and held it up for Race. With a satisfied nod Race cautioned, "Have fun, but be careful. I'll see you two in about an hour."

"We'll be here, dad," Jessie promised with a small smile.

"Call us when you're headed our way," Jonny called as Race headed back to his car.

The two lingered long enough to watch him get in and drive off, then turned to head down the naturally curving dirt trail that meandered through the park. The park had a large open field surrounded on three sides by trees. A brook trickled out from the woods on the opposite side of the field, cutting across the open grass before disappearing back into the trees.

Jonny and Jessie followed the trail as it followed the tree line on the east side, talking idly as they went. A family of three was having a picnic in the shade between the brook and the trees and a group of kids were playing ultimate Frisbee in the middle of the field. They called out to Jessie and Jonny to join their game, but the pair declined and kept following the path.

They discussed their schedules for the coming school year, how they couldn't believe they were going to be seniors finishing high school and if Jessie was planning on taking the Rockport High Girl's Varsity Basketball team to State again that year. They compared what classes they would be taking together, raved and ranted over what teacher's they had that first semester, lingered a little over what the topics for their senior English papers would be. Nice, light talk. Happy talk. Anything to keep her mind off of the dark cloud ever looming on the horizon.

"Hey Jess," Jonny commented just as the path lead them into the trees where the mix of shadow and light played beautifully on her hair.

"Hmmm?" Jessie replied non-verbally, her eyes cast up towards the sky visible between the leafy green branches.

"I have this crazy idea," Jonny said, knowing such an answer would pique her interest.

"What's that?" she asked as she considered him out of the corner of her eyes.

"Seeing as it is our senior year and all, I was thinking it would be cool to go prom together this year," he gauged her reaction carefully, but discreetly.

A grin broke across her lips, and she laughed. A real genuine laugh that almost was enough to chase away the lurking demon. She looked at him a bit incredulously and asked, "Are you really serious?"

"I _said_ it was a crazy idea, but yes I'm serious," he assured.

Jessie laughed again and Jonny couldn't help grinning to match hers.

"Lots of friends go to prom together," he continued, his brain trying to think up any rational reason why she should say yes. "And it's our _Senior_ year, Jess. After this, it'll be time to go our separate ways on to college."

"You say that like we'll never see each other again," Jessie accused, shoving him in the shoulder.

Jonny leaned to the side, hopping on one foot like he really could lose his balance as he replied, "Well, I mean, it is inevitable. Our dad's live together, so we'll see each other on holidays and long weekends and stuff. But we won't see each other every day like we do now. You don't go to prom with me this year…and you'll regret it the rest of your life."

Jessie rolled her eyes. "Because prom is such a pivotal part of life," she commented sarcastically.

"Hey, you're an American teen. Of course it is," he told her with a wink. "We Americans can't make a movie about high school without including the senior prom. It's usually the climax of those movies."

He had her really laughing now, so that her eyes sparkled and her cheeks flushed red, and he laughed to see her so happy.

"Okay, I'm convinced. I'll go to prom with you. I don't know why you're asking so early. I mean, the school year hasn't even started and prom's not 'til spring," she finally agreed.

Jonny grinned. "It never hurts to be prepared," he replied, causing her to roll her eyes again.

Laughing and teasing and joking, the two continued to amble their way down the path and through the trees.

* * *

Both of the places Race was going to visit were locally owned and operated businesses trying their best to compete against the corporate conglomerates. It was probably only because they did offer the chemicals and know-how for people to try developing their pictures on their own at home that they had lasted so long. That and they both were the best place to find parts for older equipment.

Race had brought a copy of the sketch Detective Dougan had provided-Iris was still working on composing a 3-D model-and showed it to the two guys at the counter of the first place he stopped by. One of the men was older with mostly gray hair who turned out to be the owner, and the other was a tall, lanky college student working at the place for the summer before heading back to school to keep working on his Graphic Art's degree. When Race asked them if they recognized the guy, mentioned that maybe the young man bought a lot of developing chemicals here, the men shook their heads and said the man in the picture didn't look familiar.

With a grim expression, Race left his personal cell number with the owner and let him know he'd appreciate a call if the guy showed up at all. The owner promised he would contact Race if he saw the guy and Race left, tucking the sketch back into his pocket. He slid into the driver's seat of his car hoping he'd have luck at the other photography store.

As he started the car and slid smoothly into traffic to travel the distance to the other store, Race felt his heart getting heavier the farther away he drove away from his daughter. The second store was on the opposite side of town from the park Jonny and Jessie were at, and Race had counted on getting lucky at his first stop. Rockport was a small town, and knowing Jonny was with his daughter gave Race some comfort, but still every mile that widened the gap between him and his daughter put Race more on the edge.

The second store was in a dieing strip mall with a couple of vacant spaces, a drop-off day care center, a hair salon and a payday loan check cashing business. A rusty van, the type without out any side or rear windows, pulled out from the spot next to Race's just as he was getting out of his car and left the parking lot, disappearing down the street.

The front window of the camera place was painted with an old-fashioned camera with the flash going off. Inside, there was only one man behind the counter, dusty brown hair just starting to go gray, crow's feet at the corners of his hazel eyes, athletic build, at least as tall as Race, though it was hard to tell the way he was hunched over the camera-it matched the one pictured on the front window perfectly-he was fiddling with. The man looked up when he heard the bell on the door and flashed Race a friendly smile.

"Give me just a minute and I'll be right with you," he excused himself, twirling between his fingers a tiny screwdriver placed deep into the recesses of the large, dusty camera.

Race sauntered lazily up to the counter as if he had all the time in the world and struck a non-threatening pose: one foot extended slightly, thumbs in the pocket of his jeans, leaning back just a little. He watched the man with feigned interest as he tinkered with the camera for a few more moments before setting it aside and turning to face Race with a warm smile.

"What can I do for you…Mr. Bannon?" the man guessed, his eyes squinting just a bit.

Race smiled and nodded. "Please, just Race, though I'm sure we've never met before."

"Well, you know, in a small town like Rockport, you and Dr. Quest are about the closest things we have to celebrities around here. Which means everyone knows who you are without ever having met you before," the man answered chuckling and extending his hand, "Mark Adams."

Race accepted the offered hand, appreciating the strength behind the man's grip and shake.

"So, what I can I do for you?" Mark repeated his earlier question.

Race slipped the sketch from his back pocket and unfolded it for Mark, laying it on the counter and smoothing out the creases it was developing. "I was hoping you could tell me if you recognize this face."

Race watched as Mark deliberated the picture, staring at it a long time before picking it up and bringing it closer to his face.

"Perhaps he comes here to buy film," Race suggested.

"Lots of people buy film here," Mark replied a little stiffly.

"And developing chemicals," Race added, his own defenses coming up.

"Has he down anything wrong?" Mark asked, raising an eyebrow in Race's direction.

"No…not yet," Race replied

That made both of Mark's eyebrows shoot up and the man pushed away from the counter as he set the sketch back down on the counter.

"You suspect he _will_ do something?" Mark inquired, his interest piqued but still unwilling to give up information freely.

"I have reason to believe he's dangerous," Race offered.

Mark's eyes strayed to the sketch again, considering it for a long time before he shook his head and pushed it towards Race again. "I'm sorry. I can't help you."

Race leaned in, placing his hand on the piece of paper but not picking it up again. "If there is anything you know about this person, I need to know it."

"You have quite a reputation, Mr. Bannon, but unless you're a policeman, I'm not going to give you private information."

"A name's all I need," Race pressed, feeling his already stretched nerves starting to break. "I'll take care of the rest myself."

However, Mark just shook his head again. "I'm sorry. I can't help you."

Race stood up straight, taking the sketch with him and quickly folding it before shoving it back into his pocket. He said nothing as he left the store, pulling out his cell phone and dialing the compound.

"Benton," he greeted when the doctor answered. "Is Detective Dougan still there with you?"

From the other end of the phone, Benton affirmed he was.

"Send him out to meet me, will you?"

Race relayed his location and hung up, then settled against his car. He dialed one more number and waited until Jonny's bright voice answered. He and Jessie must be enjoying themselves and that took some of the tension off of Race's nerves.

"You coming to meet us already?" Jonny asked, and Race smiled to hear the slight disappointment in the boy's voice.

"No, I just wanted to let you know I'll be taking a little longer than I expected."

"You found something," Jonny guessed.

"I'll fill you in later. Be careful and have fun."

He hung up again, deposited the phone into his pocket and settled in for the wait until Dougan arrived.


	8. Chapter 8

Title: Red Headed Goddess, 8/?

Author: Goddess Evie

Date: September 9, 2007

Category: J/JHR, Angst

Summary: Things go wrong.

Disclaimer: I do not own JQ. I am only using the characters for my own unique story. I am using lyrics from the song "Time" by "Sarah McLachlan" on her _Afterglow_ CD. I do not own it, either. Well, heheh, I own the CD, just not the rights to all the songs. If you get my drift.

Author's Notes: And here we go! It's these last few chapters that made me put the rating up at M. I want to warn my readers that from here on out things are going to get a little more dark and graphic. I'm not going to go any further than I have to, but there will be language and some nudity (I hope I'm not giving too much away), so if you're not comfortable with it…well…sorry. Some people will probably read this and go "Oh, that's nothing. I've read much worse." But still, I didn't want to continue without a warning. This chapter only has a very little cussing right at the end. But I wanted to start the warnings now. That way, no surprises. One last thing, this chapter is a little on the short side, but I couldn't resist the perfect cliffhanger that presented itself. So, you guys get cut off a little early. I promise I'm already starting on the next chapter! Hopefully, since the muses are really singing to me with this one, you won't have much longer to wait. And with that said, enjoy.

Chapter 8: _You see love, a tight thorny thread that you spin in a circle of gold. To have me to hold me, a token for all to see, captured to b_ _e yours alone._

"You found something," Jonny stated into the phone and Jessie instantly focused on him and the conversation he was having with her father. Her eyebrows raised, her eyes widened and her lips pressed together as she stared at Jonny expectantly, waiting to hear the news. He was glancing at her as he listened to the answer, looking just as anxious as she was. As soon as he hung up the phone she began pressing him for information.

"Whoa!" Jonny cried, holding up his hands in a placating manner. "Race wouldn't say anything. Just that he'd fill us in later."

Jessie scowled and turned to stalk down the path. With a sigh, Jonny followed, unhappy that their previously light-hearted mood had been spoiled. As he trailed behind her, he remembered the picture in his back pocket and pulled it out to look at it again, hoping that maybe this time there would be a spark in his memory and he would remember why he recognized it.

He stared it as he walked along behind Jessica, glancing up at her often to make sure she was still stalking along in front of him. He traced the curve of her hair bouncing in the air with a fingertip, then the strong angle of her arm, the familiarity the photo held for him haunting him the more he stared at it. His face scrunched up in concentration, he paused as he sensed himself approaching Jessie who had finally stopped and turned back to him.

"That's really bothering you, isn't it?" she guessed, peering over the top of the picture.

"I _know_ I've seen this picture somewhere before. I just know it," he whispered in determination.

Jessie huffed and gently pushed the picture out of sight. "Put it away," she asked, softly pleading and looking up into his blue eyes.

Jonny's expression softened and he slid the picture into the back pocket of his jeans as he grabbed her around the shoulders with an arm and pulled her close. She slid her arm around his waist as they started walking again, leaning slightly against him.

"You know, Race is probably getting the info on this guy right as we speak," Jonny declared, giving Jessie's shoulders a squeeze, which she returned.

"Dad'll rip his heart out when he finds him," Jessie returned with a laugh and they both smiled.

"Let's not think about it anymore," Jonny suggested, leaning his head back to look up into the sky.

Jessie turned to look at him, smiling at the way his eyes innocently searched the sky, the strong line of his jaw and the ripple of muscle where his neck connected to his shoulder. He caught her looking out of the corner of his eye and she grinned at him without blushing. A grin he returned.

The conversation started up again when Jessie asked about Hadji's leaving for his first semester at college. Although the tone was decidedly less happy than before Race had called, it was still better than dwelling on Jessie's stalker. Although he never came out and said it, Jonny was obviously a little apprehensive about not having Hadji around all the time. Jessie pulled herself even closer against her best friend in a comforting gesture as he tried his best to be excited for Hadji and felt an answering squeeze around her shoulders.

The conversation moved on to other subjects as they continued along the trail. The path curved to the left and as they came around they saw the end of the trees where Jonny's red sports car was parked. It had only been fifteen minutes or so since Race had called and Jessie wondered if there would be enough time for another walk around the park. The end of the trees was only a hundred feet or so away and Jessie was just turning to suggest it to Jonny when someone jumped out at them from behind a tree to her right.

Jessie turned to meet her attacker even as Jonny began to pull her away. Something stung her eyes almost immediately, forcing her to turn away in order to protect them. Tears pooled and began to fall immediately and she rubbed helplessly at her eyes as she tried to make the sting go away. She doubled over with a coughing fit, her breathing gone ragged and short. Next to her, she could hear Jonny's painful grunting turn to exaggerated coughing and knew that whatever had blinded her had gotten to him as well.

The pain in her eyes was so bad that Jessie couldn't even open them to see her attacker and her diaphragm was starting to ache from her uncontrollable coughing fit. She fell to her knees only to feel strong arms wrap around her waist and she knew immediately without having to see that it wasn't Jonny. She began to struggle and scream as she was lifted into the air, but the pain in her eyes was too much of a distraction and her cries for help were interrupted with more coughing fits. Every time she tried to force her eyelids open, the stinging increased and the world around her was nothing but a blur.

Jessie could hear Jonny calling for her and even stumbling around trying to find her, but if he was as blind and in as much pain as she was, he would never find her. She continued to struggle against her captor, screaming through her coughing and hoping that perhaps their friends playing Frisbee in the field or even the picnickers would hear her and come for help, knowing with as much pain as her eyes were giving her, she wasn't going to escape on her own.

Whoever had a hold on her bumped into something and released her with one arm. She tried to use that to her advantage, struggling even more desperately, but he quickly held his hand over her mouth, a sweet smell invading her nose before she began to feel light headed.

In a matter of moments she was completely unconscious.

JQ

Jonny's eyes widened as he saw a familiar figure step out from behind a tree and everything clicked together in his mind. He grabbed Jessie and began to swing her away from the man coming at her. The attacker's hand was raised and he held a small canister that he squeezed to spray the contents into their faces. Immediately, Jonny's eyes began to sting painfully and he began to cough uncontrollably and the reaction caused him to let go of Jessie so he could rub at his eyes to try to make the burning go away even as he bent over unable to breath regularly.

Still as his eyes seared and breathing became continually difficult, he was tuned aurally to Jessie and he heard her when she began to struggle and scream and knew their attacker had grabbed her. He screamed for her and lurched in the direction her screams were coming from…and disappearing to. Something caught his foot and he fell face forward towards the ground. He managed to get his hands out in time to half-way catch his fall and he struggled unsuccessfully to get to his feet again. Jessie's screams were getting farther away, but he couldn't see and his eyes were ablaze with pain and he wanted just one good, deep breath. Tears streamed down his cheeks and he was too busy rubbing at his eyelids and trying to get a clean breath of air to find the balance to rise again.

He called out for her again desperately and hoarsely from all the coughing when her screams were suddenly muffled and then died down. A few moments later, as Jonny rolled around on his back with the heels of his hands pressed against his eyes, he heard an old engine start and then the vehicle drive away. His mind was split between the pain in his eyes and the knowledge that Jessie's stalker had managed to get his hands on her. Keening softly for her, Jonny cried more to know the worst had happened than for his own physical pain.

It was a long time before Jonny could open his eyes at all, and even then they still burned and his sight was mostly blurry. He continued to blink and rub at his eyes, trying to clear his vision, and mopped up his tears and snot with his shirt. It took him a few more moments to get to his feet, his depth perception impaired along with his sight and his balance off. His coughing had died down, but his throat was scratchy and he still couldn't get a decently deep breath.

He couldn't wait any longer than he already had. Jessie and her attacker already had a pretty good head start and Jonny was going to have to break the speed limit to catch up. He stumbled towards his car as he clumsily dug the keys out of his pocket. With his vision still hazy he had a hard time getting the key and lock to connect and he had to mop his tears away twice more with his shirt before he got his door open.

Once inside the car, Jonny realized he was more a danger than a help trying to drive with his vision still half gone. He stuck the key in the ignition with a couple of failed attempts and found a half-full water bottle in the back seat more by feel than by sight. Tilting his head way back and ignoring whatever damage the water might wreak on his leather interior, Jonny dumped what was left of the contents of the bottle into his eyes as he forced himself to hold them open.

Blinking rapidly, he used his shirt as a towel once more, but the water seemed to have little effect. As if a clock were ticking away the seconds in his head, Jonny felt every moment slip away from him while he sat, useless and blind, unable to go after Jessie. Every moment he sat here doing nothing was another moment Jessie was alone in the clutches of a man who was psychotically obsessed with her. The words of those letters ran through Jonny's mind, haunting him…pushing him to action.

Despite his vision only being partially restored and very slowly returning, Jonny knew he couldn't sit here any longer. Formulating a plan in his mind, Jonny turned the key in the ignition and shifted into first gear, shooting out of his parking spot and into the traffic lane. His best bet would probably be to take back roads, where there was less of a chance of him encountering other motorists. Picturing his destination in his mind, he mapped out the most direct route, including as few high-traffic roads as he could, and turned down the first residential street he came to, decelerating some but still driving well over the speed limit.

Squinting his eyes to try to make the road in front of him clearer, Jonny prayed that no stray kids would jump out at him. He was certainly going faster than was safe, even for the mostly deserted back roads, and he wasn't paying much attention to the stop signs he encountered. If Jessie had been here, she would have used this as an excuse to rail him about his driving.

_Jessie_…

With a determined growl, Jonny sped up, rubbing at his eyes again with the back of his hand. His vision was decidedly clearer and the burn had receded to a dull ache. Again he pictured his destination: a two story, white, colonial style house with pillars and balconies, set on a spacious corner lot with a circular driveway and a fountain, complete with a nude woman holding a pitcher, on the manicured front lawn. Jonny had only been to Zach Ellis' house once, but it was times like these that he was glad he had his father's photographic memory.

A mostly quiet, but generally well-liked student, Zach had been a highly awarded amateur photographer. He had graduated from Rockport high school just the previous year. While he'd been a student there he'd worked as the photographer for the school paper, where Jonny realized he'd seen the picture in his back pocket, now. Zach had even given Jessie an enlarged copy of the photo, because she'd liked it so much, which Jessie had proudly pasted into a scrap book. Zach had always had at least one camera on him and he was ever stopping to take pictures, seeing opportunities everywhere he went, even within the hallways of Rockport high.

The one time Jonny had visited Zach's house had been in the early spring before Zach had graduated. He'd done some photography work for an assignment Jonny had been working on for English with a couple of other classmates; a presentation they had to give on the works of Thoreau. Jonny's group had asked Zach to take some nature stills and Jonny had come to pick up the photographs so they could put their display together and be ready to present the next morning. He remembered how beautiful the photographs had been and how much he had thanked and praised Zach.

Jonny still felt completely surprised and incredulous that the usually shy, soft spoken young man was the same person he had watched jump out from behind a tree and spray Jessie and himself with pepper spray. He could hear Jessie's screams and attempts to free herself and wondered that quiet Zach was capable of all that had happened in the past thirty minutes.

_And if he's capable of that, what else is he capable of now that he has Jessie in his possession and all alone_?

The question popped into his head just as he turned down the block Zach's house was on and spotted the elegant white residence on the other end of the street. Jonny slowed down as he neared the house and pulled into the circular driveway, but didn't pull up to the door, instead parking closer to the street. He hoped he hadn't already been spotted. Having the element of surprise on his side was an advantage he didn't want to lose. As he crept toward the door, Jonny didn't see any other vehicles, but there was a three car garage on the east side of the house and plenty of foliage that hid the rest of drive where Zach could have parked. Jonny wasn't even sure what kind of car Zach drove.

Listening intently as he neared the front door, Jonny slowly reached for the handle, only to be surprised when it suddenly pulled open before he even touched it. His head snapped up, and his own surprised blue eyes met the bloodshot brown ones of a woman in a cream, terrycloth bathrobe, her graying blonde hair pulled back into a sloppy ponytail and a cigarette smoldering in her right hand. By the bloodshot eyes and the thick smell of alcohol wafting from the woman, Jonny deduced the woman was quite drunk. The two stared at each other for a moment before the woman's face suddenly twisted into an angry, suspicious expression.

"Who the hell are you?"

Assessing the situation and thinking fast, Jonny quickly realized that the woman before him was Zach's mother. Zach was taller than the woman, about as tall as Jonny, but they had the same dirty blonde hair, the same noses, the same thinly arched eyebrows. Stuttering a little, and hoping the woman was too drunk to notice, Jonny gave the first decent answer his mind came up with.

"I-I'm looking for your son, Zach."

The woman looked him up and down again skeptically, and then uttered the three words that chased all of Jonny's hope away.

"He's not here."


	9. Chapter 9

Title: Red Headed Goddess, 9/?

Author: Goddess Evie

Date: September 12, 2007

Category: J/JHR, Angst

Summary: Race is still trying to get information, Jonny starts his wild goose chase, and Jessie faces her stalker for the first real time.

Disclaimer: I do not own JQ. I am only using the characters for my own unique story. I am using lyrics from the song "I Need You" by "3 Door Down" from their first CD. I do not own it, either. Well, heheh, I own the CD, just not the rights to all the songs. If you get my drift.

Author's Notes: Wow, I am so on a roll with this story. I just can't seem to stop writing it! For all of you who have been faithfully following along (and I do hope you've also been faithfully reviewing. It gives writers such a warm, happy feeling inside to receive a good review), lucky you! Keep praying it continues until the story ends. And once again, I end the chapter with a cliff hangar. I've been pretty good at that, recently. Of course, what's a good story climax without the cliff hangars. Anyways, although it's very light, there is the beginning of some sexuality. I know it really isn't as bad as plenty other stuff you can find on here or elsewhere, but I admit I'm a goody two shoes, so it seems like pretty deep stuff. Hey, at least I'm warning you, even if you do roll your eyes at my story and go "Lightweight." Teehee. I just want to cover all my bases! Anyways, enjoy! No promises on the next chapter, as usual, but receiving reviews and having certain people update their stories certainly helps! eyes those certain people who know who they are!!!!

Chapter 9: _Oh no, I can't let you go, my little girl, because you're holding up my world, so I need you._

It was forty minutes before Detective Dougan arrived at the old camera shop where Race was waiting. He seemed calm enough, Dougan decided as he climbed out of his car and strode quickly towards where the man was watching his approach, standing almost motionless.

Slowly, but in a dangerously quiet voice, Race neatly recapped the progress he had made during his trip into town. The complete bust the first store had been, and the resistance of the man, Mark, in the store they now stood outside of. Race was sure the man knew something, but he was unwilling to talk. Dougan wondered at the control Race had shown, knowing the man before him was as dangerous as a ticking time bomb, and that the clock was quickly nearing zero.

"I can't promise anything. There's nothing I can do to make him talk, not without a warrant or a subpoena. And I'm not sure we have enough evidence here to get either one of those," Dougan warned as Race handed him the sketch.

The white haired man nodded at the Detective and Dougan turned to walk into the shop. He was surprised, when he glanced over his shoulder, to see that Race hadn't followed him. Was it a sign of trust? Or was the man just smart enough to know when he wouldn't be able to control himself? Whatever the reason, Dougan was glad to be doing this alone.

The shop was empty for the moment, except for the cameras and supplies hanging from the walls from floor to ceiling. Detective Dougan rang a bell on the counter and in a few short moments the man Race had described, Mark, appeared through a doorway into the back room. Dougan immediately pulled out his badge and held it out for the man to inspect as he introduced himself. He wanted to make sure Mark knew he was the real deal, after Race's pressing interrogation.

"What can I do for you, Detective?" Mark asked congenially, taking a seat on a stool.

Detective Dougan handed the sketch to Mark and watched his face harden while the man looked it over. After only a couple of moment's he tried handing it back to the Detective, but Dougan declined. Once Mark realized that Dougan wasn't going to take it back he set it on the counter, but kept his eyes on Dougan.

"You're the second person to show this picture to me," he admitted stonily.

"You know who this person is," Dougan said softly, making it a statement and not a question.

After a long hesitation the man nodded and commented, "He's a nice kid."

"Maybe not so nice," Dougan returned.

"That's exactly what Mr. Bannon implied," Mark said, showing he had made the connection.

"We have compelling evidence to think so," Dougan assured, keeping his tone of voice light.

Mark shook his head. "I can't imagine this kid doing anything bad. You should see some of the pictures he's taken."

"I've seen more than enough," Dougan cut in, and received a curious look from Mark." He paused for a moment, deliberately, before he asked, "What's his name?"

"You sure this kid's done something wrong?" Mark asked in reply. "Sure this is the right kid?"

"He hasn't done anything serious…yet," Dougan reassured. "But we fear he will. We need to stop him before he hurts anybody."

"He's just not capable, I tell you!" Mark yelled, rising. "He's just a quiet, gentle young man. Kid couldn't hurt a fly, and never wanted to,"

"It's always the quiet ones," Dougan sighed, feeling like an actor in a bad cop movie. He received a glare from Mark for his comment. "Look, I'm sure you have every reason to stand up for him, but I need to know who this guy is before he gets himself into trouble and does some serious harm to an innocent victim."

There was no reply from Mark, but Dougan could see the inner struggle on the man's face as he stared between the picture on the counter and Detective Dougan's face.

"All I need is a name," Dougan added softly.

The man smiled, not a happy gesture, and muttered, "That's what Mr. Bannon said."

Dougan didn't say anything, could see Mark was still deliberating. This could be the pivotal moment and he had a feeling if he uttered even one word the man would shut up.

"Zach Ellis," he finally identified. "His name's Zach Ellis."

"Thank you," Dougan said sincerely, grabbing the picture and slipping out of the dusty shop.

Race pounced on him immediately, but Dougan gave the information before the man could even get his first question out.

"All I got was a name, but hopefully, that'll be enough," Dougan informed, repeating the name Mark had given him.

"That's all we need," Race assured, and Dougan didn't miss that even through his serious demeanor he sounded hopeful again.

Detective Dougan watched as Race climbed into his car, leaving the door open, and began keying something into the center console. He realized there was a small, full color, LED monitor set into the dash, an extension of the center console between the two front seats. He remained quiet while Race worked, sure he was seeing more than he probably should be. After a few minutes, Race turned to Dougan, almost smiling.

"I've got two addresses for a Zach Ellis. We'll check the closer one, first. Hop in Detective, I'll drive."

Without questioning the older man, Dougan obediently ran around to the other side of the car. He just barely had the door closed before Race sped out of the parking spot and squealed into the street.

JQ

"He's not here."

Jonny felt the panic rise within him with that statement and closed his eyes for a moment until he could make it go away. "Do you know where he is? I _really _need to find him," he pleaded, ready to drop to his knees and beg.

"How the hell should I know? I haven't seen him since he moved in with his asshole of a father."

Jonny felt a glimmer of hope return to him. "Where does his father live?" he asked frantically.

"What's so important that you're in such a hurry to find the little shit?" the woman asked, squinting her eyes.

_I don't have time for this_, Jonny thought, wanting to yell it at the woman.

"Uh, senior pictures," he blurted out, instead. "He promised to do mine for me-you know, save a buck-but I haven't been able to get a hold of him and school's about to start. Please, if you know how I can reach him, I'd really appreciate it."

Still looking skeptical, but also like she was tiring of the conversation, the woman rambled off an address, which Jonny committed to memory.

"Thanks, Mrs. Ellis," Jonny called even as he was already running back to his car.

He heard the woman go into hysterics, cussing and yelling, but Jonny paid her no attention. He was already in his car and driving off. He didn't recognize the street name the woman had given him, but as he drove he pulled out his phone and dialed the GPS service. Punching in the address along with his current position, the phone started firing off directions and Jonny followed them, still driving at dangerous speeds.

With his eye now mostly clear, though still aching, Jonny didn't feel so apprehensive driving on the main roads when the GPS led him there, though he hated having to slow down in the increased traffic. The stoplights were a problem, too. He swore he was hitting every single one red.

This was taking too long. He wasn't going to reach Jessie quickly enough. Too much time had passed. Zach was probably already…Jessie could already be…he…she…they…

_Just drive, Quest_, he mentally ordered himself.

JQ

Jessie's mouth was dry and there was a dull ache in her eyes when she awoke, groggy and disoriented. Reflexively, her hands moved to rub at them, but jerked to a stop after only a couple of inches. The alarm ringing in her head fully woke Jessie and she craned around to see her wrists were bound above her head to the rungs of a metal headboard with tightly wrapped ropes. As she turned her head to gaze around the rest of the room she was in, the memories of the earlier attack flashed across her memory and she felt the wrath beginning to build in her.

The room she was in was small and dingy, though nowhere near as bad as the room with all the pictures of herself. In stark contrast, the walls of this room were naked and bare. The only piece of furniture in the room was the bed she was currently lying on-_No, tied to_, she thought seethingly-and a small, well abused night table on her left, with a drawer in the front. The only thing on the night table was a thick layer of dust. There was enough dirt and grime on the only window in the room to turn it yellow and keep anyone from seeing in or out. Shadows from outside shrubbery moved in the breeze, darkening the majority of the pane, but weren't enough to let Jessie know if she was on the ground floor or a higher level. A bald light bulb hung from its base in the middle of the browning, popcorn textured ceiling. The closet's aluminum, accordion style doors stood partially open in the opposite corner of the room from Jessie, but she wasn't at the right angle to see anything useful in there. To the left of the closet was the door out of the room, but it was securely shut.

Immediately, Jessie began to pull at the ropes holding her down. Her feet, at least were free, but the ropes binding her were thick, tightly tied and wrapped several times around her wrist and halfway up her hands. The headboard itself was composed of hollow, aluminum tubes with white matte paint, ranging from shortest on the ends to tallest in the middle, a curving piece running along the tops. A smaller version held up the foot of the bed. The sheets she lay on at least were clean, and the pillow beneath her head smelled fresh.

As futile as her efforts seemed, Jessie didn't give up trying to free herself of the ropes holding her down. There was no way she was going to just lie around and wait for…_him_. She didn't really want to find out what promises he had inferred behind the words of his letters. "Paris." "Actaeon." Whatever.

_Jonny, where are you? Are you okay?_ she asked herself as she continued to struggle. She remembered keenly, though she had been unconscious through most of it, the burn in her eyes from the pepper spray they'd been attacked with and the way it had inhibited their breathing. Was he still laying out in the park, unable to see or breath or even move? Had their attacker gone back to make sure Jonny didn't interfere? He had to have known they'd recognized him the moment he stepped out from behind the tree. Would he have taken extra precautions with Jonny to make sure her best friend didn't come after her?

As if her thoughts had summoned him, the door opened to admit Zach himself. Hearing the creek of the hinges, Jessie snapped her head to the side to watch him as he entered. When his dark hazel eyes met her green ones and he saw she was awake, he smiled eagerly. Jessie met his expression with an icy scowl.

He stood just about six-one, just as Jonny and Hadji had deduced from the video footage of him delivering the first package. He wasn't quite as well built as Jonny, was scrawnier in the shoulders, arms and torso. His thick, dark brown hair was slightly disheveled, and he ran a hand through it as he stood in the doorway, staring into her eyes.

"Let me go," she demanded, angrily through clenched teeth.

"You are my goddess," he answered softly, carefully closing the door behind himself. "By all rights I should do as you ask, but I guess I'm just too selfish to let you leave. If this is the only way to have you near, then so be it."

Jessie's eyes narrowed dangerously as he approached, and every muscle in her body tensed. She watched him carefully, her mind racing to think of every possible counter attack she could use in her current position. There weren't many.

Three-quarters of the way between the bed and the door Zach fell to his knees, his arms raised in the air above his head. He closed his eyes for a moment as he worshipped her silently. Jessie refused to take her eyes off of him, as every moment her instincts screamed at her to get away any way she could.

After only a few moments Zach's eyes opened and he crawled forward on his knees until he could rest on the bed, his head on the sheets and an arm across her waist, still staring up into her face with adoration and obsession. Jessie twisted her body away from him, but he slid his hand across her lower abdomen to press gently but firmly on her hip to make her lay straight again. Jessie resisted with all her strength, but without the leverage of her arms, she lost the battle.

Zach pulled himself up to sit next to her on the bed and reached out to gently caress her face with the back of his fingers. Jessie turned her head away from the touch, every cell in her body cringing from the unwanted contact. She felt him shifting himself on the bed next to her and a moment later his lips pressed against her temple. He trailed kisses down the side of her face, curving along her cheek and towards her lips.

Jessie turned away from his searching mouth, burying his face into her arm. She felt his hands rubbing along her outstretched arms as he sought her lips with his own and the weight of his body on top of her own as he was forced to reach farther and farther to attain his goal.

Finally, Zach forced her to look at him, placing both hands on either side of her face and tilting her head towards him. No amount of resistance could stop him, he was definitely stronger than he looked. And the cold, wrath-filled look in her eyes did nothing to change the soft, admiring way he gazed upon her. He dipped his face towards hers, ready to finally steal her kiss.

"Stop," she whispered, her voice low but dangerous.

He hesitated. "I can't," came his simple reply and he ran a thumb back and forth across her cheek. "I love you."

He lowered his head again, and Jessie squirmed beneath him, tossing her head back and forth in an attempt to find freedom from his strong hands. But he wasn't going to be deterred and his mouth crashed down on hers despite her best efforts to avoid him.

Jessie froze in the first moment, the panic spreading through her immobilizing her as his mouth worked against hers. She squeezed her eyes shut, unable to react through the sheer terror she felt in that instant. In the second moment, her mind called out for her father and Jonny and the rest of the family. Wasn't this the part where they came crashing through the door to save her? Her dad would pull the creep off of her and knock him out cold in ten seconds flat while Jonny and Hadji and Dr. Quest rushed past them to untie her and help her out this hellhole. Any moment, now.

But they weren't coming, and Jessie knew it. They didn't have any idea where she was. She didn't even have any idea where she was. And to make matters worse her watch, the one they all wore with the homing beacons in them, was buried under piles of rope where she couldn't get to it in order to activate it so they could find her.

She began thrashing around as she felt his hands leave her face and begin to slither down her body. They slid over her t-shirt along the sides of her breasts and then his fingers fanned out as they reached her abdomen. Once they hit her hips one shot back up, rubbing along her side while the other one slipped farther down to knead the inside of her thigh through her jeans. She managed to pull her mouth free of his, but undeterred, he merely began to kiss and lick along her neck and around her jaw. Somehow during all this he had maneuvered so he lay completely on top of her, and his weight trapped her effectively.

Jessie realized she was crying hysterically, the tears streaming out of the corner of her eyes and into her hair. She was uncontrollably begging with him to stop, let her go, don't do this to her. He paid her no mind as his mouth searched around the base of her neck and the tip of his tongue found the dip just above her collarbone.

"No, dad," Jessie cried aloud, trying to summon help by sheer willpower. "Jonny."

Zach suddenly froze, his mouth hovering millimeters above her neck. Jessie tilted her head down to look at him. Slowly he raised his gaze to meet hers and Jessie saw something different than what had been there before. A look in his eyes that was unreadable, but dangerous. A look that scared Jessie almost more than how he was violating her and what his intentions clearly were.

The look slowly dissolved, became worshipful and adoring, and Zach shifted himself so he was looking straight down at her. He supported himself on all fours, straddling her hips with his hands on the mattress on either side of her head. She watched him with a guarded, untrusting expression, waiting for him to strike again. His eyes never left her face as he reached out with his right hand for the night table.

Unwilling to take her eyes off Zach for one second, Jessie listened as the drawer opened with a squeal of protest from disuse. He scrabbled around in it as he felt for whatever was looking for, his gaze unwavering as he continued to stare at her. Once he had found what he was looking for he shoved the door closed again and drew his hand back. Jessie's eyes went wide when she saw what he was holding.

Zach laid the tip of the double-bladed knife against her stomach just beneath her breasts and his breathing quickened with anticipation. She felt the sharp tip through the material of her shirt as he dragged it along her abdomen to the waistband of her pants. Squeezing her eyes closed and lifting her chin, Jessie screamed with everything she had, even as she felt Zach pulling the bottom of her shirt out of her jeans.

But was anyone near enough to hear her scream?


	10. Chapter 10

Title: Red Headed Goddess, 10/?

Author: Goddess Evie

Date: September 23, 2007

Category: JJHR, Angst

Summary: Zach continues to get his way with Jessie and Jonny is still searching for her.

Disclaimer: I do not own JQ. I am only using the characters for my own unique story. I am using lyrics for the song "All Around" by "Flyleaf." I just discovered this band and LOVE it. I do not own the song, either, but I do own the CD so I get to listen to it all the time.

Author's Notes: For any of you who have been reading this story and wondering why I gave it an "M" rating, well it's because of chapters like this. And really, this should be the only one, but since I KNEW this was coming from the beginning, I gave it that high rating all the way back then as a warning. For those who have been waiting for an update, you can thank Sigokat and Storytellergirl for getting me to update on this story so much, recently. Reading their awesome stories and getting great reviews and a lot of encouragement from the both has certainly helped to motivate me to keep working on this. I really can't believe it, but we are quickly nearing the end. Just a warning, however, I am not finished pouring on the angst. Oh yes, it gets worse. And on par with all the recent chapters, this one ends with a nice cliff hangar. Happy reading!

P.S. For those of you with sharp enough eyes and good enough memories, there is something in this chapter that appeared in a previous chapter. Can you find it? When you do you are going to smack your head and go "NO WAY!" and call me cruel. I won't argue. I really am that.

P.P.S. I replaced chapter 5 with an updated version that has an extra scene with Jessie. So, go back and check it out and let me know if it was a good edition or just a waste of time!

Chapter 10: _I can feel you all around me, thickening the air I'm breathing._

The muscles in Jessie's stomach twitched as the cold knife blade came in contact with her body. She squeezed her eyes shut and whimpered, her every muscle tightening. Slowly Zach began to move the knife upward along her body. No blood was drawn, though Jessie would have preferred that. Instead, she listened to the rip of fabric as he cut the front of her t-shirt in half, exposing her slightly tanned skin and white cotton bra. The knife jerked as it severed the doubled fabric at the collar and Jessie could feel the cool air prickling her skin. As Zach worked to slit her sleeves and completely rid her of the garment, his own shirt brushed against her stomach, making her flinch and cringe.

Jessie's mind was still having a hard time wrapping itself around what was happening. She still couldn't give up the hope that any moment _someone_ would burst through the door and rescue her before this whole thing got too far. Her mind hadn't yet registered that things already had gone too far. It did pick up on the irony of her prayers for a savior not even a day after she had been in a fight with Jonny over her need to be protected.

_Jonny_…

She'd give anything to see him now, to have him here.

Zach had been silent for a while, but when she suddenly felt his fingertips grazing the skin of her abdomen, making the muscles twitch again, Jessie gasped and opened her eyes. With the gentlest of motions he pushed her split shirt apart so it fell aside, exposing her torso to him. His eyes raked over her body, drinking in every detail with an awed, reverent expression. Feeling his gaze like a one ton weight, Jessie felt dirtier than she did after a long, hot day spent digging through the dirt at one of her mother's excavation sites in the middle of a steamy South American jungle. She watched him as he ran a hand across her stomach and back once and then lean over and place the softest of kisses just below her breasts.

She cried out as if she'd been stabbed instead of kissed, but Zach ignored her every protest. Carefully he hopped off the bed and padded in his bare feet across the room. It was only because she dreaded what more he could have planned for her that Jessie watched him with an overabundance of trepidation. _What else?_, she wondered as she watched him root around the top shelf of the closet, W_hat else could he have in store for me?_

Her mind was overwhelmed enough with what was happening that there was no room to ponder about more. Jessie could only watch as Zach found what he had been looking for and pulled it from the closet. He turned to face Jessie with an eager grin as he walked back toward her, a camera in each hand. One was obviously an old Polaroid with the instant prints; the kind that popped out the photo with the white border that you waved around until the picture developed. The second camera was much more expensive looking and modern, with a large flash and a telephoto lens.

_Wonderful. More pictures_, Jessie thought, feeling her lower lip begin to tremble, signaling the onslaught of more tears. _I should have seen this coming_.

Zach tenderly set the more expensive camera on the floor and opened the lens and flash on the Polaroid. He took his time finding the right angle before he snapped a picture. Grabbing the small, plastic square as the camera ejected it, he flopped it around as he one-handedly closed up the Polaroid and set it down, reaching for the higher quality camera. Anxious to see the picture he had taken, he looped the camera's strap around his neck and inspected his work.

Jessie watched the lust filled grin spread across Zach's face as he scanned every detail of the photo. She might as well not have even been there in real life, with the way his eyes devoured the picture. Finally he looked up at her, the grin he wore becoming more exaggerated, and moved to place the photo on the dusty bedside table. Jessie was glad she was unable to see it.

Zach took more time turning on the second camera. He flipped the flash on and let it warm up, lovingly uncapped the lens, skillfully adjusted the focus and settings. Jessie watched his every movement as tears once again streamed silently from the corners of her eyes.

"Amazing," Zach breathed, pausing in his handling of the camera to watch her; the first words he had spoken since he had first tried to kiss her. Jessie didn't want to know what was so amazing to him, but he continued on without so much as a care to how she felt, just like he'd been doing all along. "Your eyes make emeralds seem like dull rocks when you cry."

Jessie closed her eyes to spite him. The light filtering through her eyelids brightened in quick flashes as she heard the click of the camera going off with every picture he took. She turned her face away from him again, trying to foil his plans however she could. When she tried to turn her body away as well, he pressed her hip down with gentle pressure as he had before and went back to snapping pictures.

Even after the clicking and flashing came to a stop, Jessie kept her eyes closed and refused to look at him. She already knew what he was going to do next. He had made his intentions quite clear. Still, she couldn't help a cringe when she felt his weight on the mattress again, or a strangled moan as he kissed her neck and slipped his hands along her body.

"I hate you," the words came out of Jessie's mouth icy and cold.

Zach's mouth came off her shoulder and she could feel him looking at her, even as he smoothed his palms up and down her stomach. She still couldn't bear to look at him. She didn't want to have to anymore. Hate hadn't really been a strong enough word. Loathe. Despise. Spurn. Those were getting closer to the truth, but Jessie didn't think there was a word in any of the languages she was fluent in strong enough to describe how much she detested Zach.

"But I love you," he replied softly, as if that made everything he was doing alright.

Jessie wanted to vomit, hearing those words. She felt his lips brush softly against her cheek, ghost along her jaw to her ear where he nibbled on her lobe. Every cell in her body rejected the contact, and she wished she could just sink into the mattress and disappear. One of his hands left her body and then she gasped as something cold slipped along her skin between her breasts

The shock made her look. Zach had slipped the knife beneath her bra, the flat of the blade against her chest, and with wide eyes she watched as he turned the knife so that the blade lifted the strip of fabric slightly. He paused for a moment to breath, and then with a sharp tug broke through the cotton with the knife. Quickly he cut away the straps and pushed what was left of the undergarment away to completely expose her.

Jessie found herself short of breath, struggling to inhale and exhale. With a satisfied sigh Zach leaned over her once again, his hands shooting up along her skin to firmly cup her breasts. His mouth crashed down on her shoulder, kissing and licking down her body. Jessie couldn't get enough oxygen in her lungs to do more than whimper her protest. It was pure torture the way his fingers kneaded her body and his mouth was never satisfied. His ragged breathing grated in her ears, quickening with every kiss, every lick. She felt the bile rise in her stomach as she realized she could feel him, hard and stiff, against the inside of her thigh.

It was when he traced his tongue along the curve of one breast that Jessie lost it. Lost all hope that anyone would ever come for her. Lost the patience her father had taught her to have to find that just right moment that would allow her an escape. Even lost, perhaps, a little bit of sanity.

At the top of her lungs she yelled and screamed at the man touching her and kissing her and ignoring her orders and pleas to stop. Half English and half Spanish, her angry cries continued, calling him every name she could think of in both languages, and struggling against him. Not that it did her any good. Zach had already shown that he was stronger than he looked and not to be deterred from his goal. Despite the way she thrashed about, he continued to worship her in this sick way of his.

And no matter how he sugar coated it, rape was still rape.

He took his time trailing his mouth and hands over her chest, moaning with pleasure as he played out his sick fantasy. Jessie continued to yell at him the entire time, struggling against him where she could. Tears were streaming from her eyes again and her voice was starting to get hoarse when he finally pulled away from her and unsurprisingly grabbed for the cameras again.

Jessie gave Zach an angry glare as he snapped a picture with the Polaroid. He lazily and wordlessly drank in his progress so far with a worshipful eye that made Jessie's skin crawl with the linger sensations of the ways he had already touched and violated her. The knife he had used to cut away her clothing lay on the mattress next to her, mocking her. There it was only inches away, and she had no way of using it to free herself. Even suicide would have been better than this, but she had no way to plunge the blade into her heart.

"I suppose it's just the nature of a goddess…to look beautiful even when she's angry," Zach said, his gaze flickering between Jessie and the picture he had just taken of her.

"Shut up," she bit back, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment.

He placed the photo onto the night stand with the first one and rejoined her on the bed, laying his body on top of hers. He wove his fingers into her hair, making her look at him and forced more kisses onto her. He flicked and pressed at her lips with his tongue, but she would have none of it and kept her mouth firmly shut. Unsatisfied with her resistance, he moved his hand to press his fingertips into the hinges of her jaw just so. Her mouth popped open easily granting him the access he desired, and Jessie instinctively screamed again as his tongue invaded her mouth. With the way he had his fingers pressed into her jaw hinges, she didn't even have the satisfaction of biting off his tongue.

With all hope gone, Jessie found her will to fight fading as well. She tried to renew it with thoughts of her father and mother and Dr. Quest. Hadji and Jonny. By now they had to know what had happened to her and most likely what Zach was now doing to her. She had no doubt that Jonny had tried looking for her. Maybe he still was, searching wildly for her whereabouts. But it was too late. Zach was getting exactly what he wanted.

_Close enough to touch._

She remembered that line from his first letter vividly, a vision of the words scrawled across the paper appearing before her eyes as she screamed and yelled past his searching tongue and forceful mouth. Her body fought to pull away from his searching, caressing hands, his gentle and adoring but ultimately unwanted touch. This Helen had, without a doubt, been captured and taken unwillingly away from the people she loved.

Seemingly satisfied for the moment with kissing her, Zach sat up again and grabbed for the nicer camera without even moving off of her. He snapped more pictures of her, the lens of the camera zooming back and forth as he manually operated it. Jessie automatically flinched with every click, pulling at her restraints unsuccessfully. The camera flashed continuously, and Jessie wondered if Zach would eve get tired of taking her picture.

However, when he finally put the camera down and returned his mouth and hands to her body, Jessie suddenly wished he'd just go back to the picture taking. It was light years better than having his mouth on her breast and a hand between her thighs. She cried out wordlessly with every touch, an instinctual protest to the undesired attention. He had to know that her yelling and even occasional moaning were not from whatever pleasure he thought he was giving her. He had to hear the pain in her screaming. Wasn't her very vocal rejection of him registering in his mind?

No, he wasn't dumb. All he had needed to take down the great Jonny Quest and Jessie Bannon and get his hands on his so-called goddess was a can of pepper spray. He knew she didn't want this, the selfish bastard. For all his talk of her being his goddess, the only thing he really cared about was getting off on her. Lying underneath him, half naked, his hands and mouth all over her body, Jessie thought he was doing a pretty good job of getting exactly what he wanted.

He slipped a hand between her breasts, down along her flat stomach and to the top of her jeans. With a quick movement, and a whimper from Jessie, he popped the button.

JQ

Even with the GPS program on his phone attempting to give him directions, Jonny was lost. He had traveled the directions easily at first, along the main roads and through middle class neighborhoods. However, once he had entered the older part of town, the poorer part of town, the GPS had begun to fail him. Most of the houses were in a sorry condition. Peeling paint, missing roof tiles, brown grass with large patches of dirt and toys scattered across them. Many of the houses had chain link fences housing mangy dogs and there were even some with bars over the windows and metal screen doors with heavy locks hiding their front doors. This wasn't a part of Rockport that Jonny was familiar with, and he wasn't sure why Zach would have brought Jessie here.

The worst part was that a lot of the street signs were faded or missing, making his job of finding the right address that much harder. Nor did most the houses have visible numbers on them, if any at all. Twice the GPS system had lead him down dead ends. The first time he had backtracked and found a new turn to take, hoping it was the one he had missed. The second time he'd been forced to find a street sign he could read, re-input his present location and the address Zach's mother had given him and start fresh, losing precious time.

Jonny's phone suddenly beeped at him to take a left and he scurried to follow, praying this wasn't another dead end. He cruised slowly down the street, every window in his car open…just in case. When the phone in his hand suddenly instructed him to turn left into a driveway, Jonny looked at the house across the street, searching for the address number. It took him a moment, but after inching forward a couple of times, he spotted it beneath the cobwebby porch light, painted the same color as the house itself.

Jonny parked immediately and jumped out of his car, then made himself slow down and close the door quietly. He listened, but he didn't hear anything other than a dog barking in the near distance, maybe a couple of blocks. He crossed the street at a jog, then walked up the driveway at a more cautious pace. Mostly hidden from the street by the dangling curtain of branches from the neighboring yard's weeping willow tree, a rusty brown van with no windows in the back was parked in the grass. Jonny spared it only a glance before moving on up the driveway and down the walk.

He had to remind and then force himself to breath as he reached the front door. This had to be the right place. He still didn't hear anything from inside. The wind rustled the branches of the trees up and down the street, starting that damn dog barking again. Jonny placed his hand on the door knob and began to twist. It twisted easily beneath his hand.

He heard something from inside the house, making his breath catch in his throat and his hand pause on the knob. He focused on listening, waiting for the sound to come again. He heard it more clearly this time, definitely a scream of some sort. It was coming from the back of the house.

There was no doubt in Jonny's mind that it was Jessie.


	11. Chapter 11

Title: Red Headed Goddess, 11/?

Author: Goddess Evie

Date: October 4 2007

Category: JJHR, Angst

Summary: Race and Detective Dougan keep looking for the stalker while Jonny tries to save Jessie.

Disclaimer: I do not own JQ. I am only using the characters for my own unique story. I am using lyrics for the song "I'm So Sick" by "Flyleaf." I just discovered this band and LOVE it. I do not own the song, either, but I do own the CD so I get to listen to it all the time.

Author's Notes: Okay, we're coming up on the end! I decided to do a little time warp with this chapter. So, the section with Race kind of comes a little later in the story, and then we backtrack to see what actually happens when Jonny enters the house. After the seriousness content of last chapter, this one is a little better. Some action (I don't really think I write action scenes very well, but I do my best) and another cliffhanger. You know me. I just can't resist a good cliff hangar, even if it does make the chapter a little short. So, ENJOY!

Chapter 11: _You sink into my clothes and this invasion makes me feel worthless, hopeless, sick._

When Race shared the addresses his search for Zach Ellis had come up with, Detective Dougan immediately ruled out one of them. It was the address for the apartment building Jessie's stalker had originally been discovered at. Unfortunately, it was also the closer of the two addresses and the one Race had been heading for. With a soft curse, Race shifted, immediately changed lanes and changed his course for the second address.

This one was on the other side of town, and although Rockport was not large, it was large enough. It certainly didn't help that rush hour traffic was in full force. Race tried his best to avoid the main roads, but it was impossible to by pass them all. The path he took was far from the direct one, winding along back roads and residential areas. The LED screen in the dash now showed a digital map, giving off voice commands to reach the programmed address. It was having a hard time keeping up with Race and all his sudden direction changes.

With the extra traffic, the journey took them twice as long as it should have. Detective Dougan found himself watching the man next to him drive at an alarming speed, but with the kind of control Dougan had never seen before in his life. He wondered how many of the rumors circulating about Race Bannon were true. The man was focused on the road ahead of him, his eyes darting about in search of obstacles and unexpected complications. There was a tense silence between the two during the journey.

Finally they pulled into a circular driveway in front of a white colonial style, two-story house. The lawn was green and well cared for, the house neatly kept. Race drove the car right up to the door and stepped out without hesitation. Dougan had to scramble to catch up to him, not wanting the man to do anything on his own. There was a calmness about Race that said he was in control, but Dougan knew the man had to be on edge. With any luck, they were about to catch his daughter's stalker before he did any real harm.

As they approached the white, double doors, Dougan noticed the gun hidden at Race's back, tucked into the waistband of his pants. "Expecting trouble?" Dougan breathed his question as Race rang the doorbell, discreetly unsnapping the flap for his own gun, but leaving it in the holster.

"I just don't like to take chances," Race replied right before the door opened.

A woman stood before them, her dark brown hair a mess, her eyes bloodshot. She wore a terry cloth robe and smelled like a liquor store. She looked the two men up and down with some undisguised contempt.

Dougan pulled his badge and flipped it for the woman to see, identifying himself as he did so, before Race could start an interrogation. He exchanged a look with the white-haired man, saw the impatience in his eyes and took the risk of ignoring it.

"Ma'am, is your son, Zach, at home?" Dougan asked congenially.

"What the hell do you want with him?" she sounded defensive, and she had only opened the door wide enough to squeeze herself into the space and keep either men from seeing further in. It didn't stop Race from not so conspicuously attempting to look past her. He received an angry scowl from his efforts, which he either missed or ignored, Dougan wasn't quite sure.

"We just want to ask him some questions," Dougan assured. "Talk to him."

"Are you accusing him of something?" the woman inquired.

"No, not yet," Dougan replied carefully.

"Do you have a search warrant?" she asked next.

"No," Dougan answered simply.

"Then get the hell off my property," she snapped and slammed the door shut. The two men could hear the locks sliding and clicking into the place.

"Well, that was a bust," Dougan sighed, only to get Race's hand in his face signaling him to be quiet.

Dougan's eyebrows knitted together as he watched the other man. Race seemed to be listening or waiting for something, and Dougan wasn't sure what he was. Was the man expecting Zach himself to suddenly show up out of nowhere?

Finally, Race relaxed and turned back to the car. Dougan noticed the darkness in his steely blue eyes as he followed to the passenger side. Race paused at his door to look up at the house once more before climbing into the car. Dougan followed suit, firmly closing the car door and watching his companion with concern.

"Do you think we have enough evidence to get a search warrant?" Race asked softly.

"It would be a stretch."

Race nodded. "That's what I thought."

"So, what next?"

Race rubbed a hand through his hair and exhaled loudly. His eyes searched the dashboard, looking almost lost, and then he started digging into his pocket. "I better check on Jessie and Jonny."

The phone he was looking for began ringing even before he managed to locate it. Race searched with more insistency and pulled the ringing phone out of his pocket. His eyebrows lifted as he checked the caller id before flipping the small silver cell open it and lifting to his ear.

"Jonny?" he greeted, obviously expecting to hear the young man answer from the other end.

Race's eyes suddenly widened, and his mouth dropped open slightly. "Jessie? Is that you?"

Dougan watched as, for the first time, fear entered Race's expression. Fear and a renewed look of determination. The detective felt his own heart drop into his shoes as he watched the expressions on Race's face change and contort as he listened to whatever his daughter was telling him.

The next question that came out of Race's mouth sounded so dangerous that Dougan felt himself lean back away from the man.

"Where are you?"

JQ

Jonny twisted the doorknob of the front door and pushed, but the door didn't open. The knob itself wasn't locked, but a heavy-duty dead bolt obviously was by the way the door rattled but didn't give way, no matter how he shoved against. He thought about picking it, but immediately dismissed that thought. He wasn't as good at that sort of thing as Jessie or Hadji, and he wasn't sure he could find the right tool with which to do it.

Leaving the porch and beginning to circle the house, Jonny began trying windows. Most of them were too dingy too see through, and all of them seemed to be locked. He could see a kitchen through one and a small bathroom through another. As he neared the back of the house, Jonny could hear more of Jessie's screaming. Her cries fueled his determination, and he jerked harder on the windows in his attempt to get one of them to open. They all stated resolutely shut.

Jonny had to haul himself over a six-foot wood fence to get to the back of the house. He was glad there wasn't a dog hiding back there. The backyard was small and overgrown with weeds, the fence running along the whole of the perimeter. There was a small concrete patio and sliding glass door. Jonny stepped up and tried to open it, but it too was locked. Any attempt to look through it was barred by yellowed and cracking Venetian blinds.

More crying from inside the house startled him, and he slammed his fist against the double paned glass doors in frustration. Jonny stepped back a few feet from the house, looking it over, his mind working furiously to find the way in that wasn't obviously apparent. For a moment he wondered if he could break through the glass doors, but the glass was too thick and there wasn't any patio furniture to throw through it.

His mind suddenly remembered the window he'd spied the kitchen through. It was set right above the outside air conditioning unit at the side of the house. The window panes weren't double paned like the sliding glass doors, and the AC unit would be the stepping stool he'd need to get into the small, high set windows.

Jonny jogged back around to the side of the house, climbed up onto the AC unit and looked at the window with renewed hope. He pushed against the glass, which bent slightly under the pressure as the windowpane rattled in its frame. Jumping back down, he grabbed a fairly decent sized rock from the dirt surrounding the air conditioner and climbed back up.

Jonny shielded his eyes with one arm and smashed the rock through the window at the same time that Jessie screamed out again. The window glass shattered in one blow and Jonny used the rock to break out most of the big pieces before hauling himself through the window. The shards of glass crackled beneath his feet as he stepped into the stainless steel sink below the window and then hopped down to the scratched and faded linoleum floor.

Jonny took only a split second to take in his surroundings before he crossed the distance from the window to the only doorway. It led out to a combined dining-living room. The locked front door was to his right, the sliding glass door to his left and a hallway straight across from him, from which he could hear Jessie's cries coming. With only the moment of hesitation to look around, Jonny coasted silently down the middle of the large room and entered the darkened hallway.

The doorway at the end of the hall was closed, and Jonny set his sights on it. The bathroom he had seen through the window passed by on his right as well as an open door next to it that was a spare bedroom turned extremely cluttered office. Jonny was about half-way down the hall when Jessie's cries suddenly increased in volume and he stopped and turned to look at a closed door on his left. Her pleading moans were definitely coming from behind it and not the door at the end of the hall as he had originally thought. Jonny paused for a moment to prepare himself, then shoved the door open with such force that it hit the wall with a loud bang, startling the occupants of the room.

Jonny halted in his tracks at what he saw. He could never have prepared himself for this. His head swam and his vision blurred as he tried to come to terms with the scene before him.

Jessie was tied to the bed and half-naked, crying uncontrollably and begging for escape. Zach lay on top of her, his hands and mouth caressing her body despite Jessie's protests. The sight almost brought Jonny to his knees and it was only by keeping a tight grip on the doorjamb that he managed to stay on his feet.

Anger like nothing he had ever felt before rose in Jonny, consuming every thought. His blurred vision refocused as he zeroed in on Zach and felt the strength return to his limbs. Zach's dark eyes regarded him dangerously as he hovered protectively over Jessie. With a growl he pushed himself off the bed, something glinting in his left hand, to face Jonny.

"You," Zach growled menacingly, tossing the knife to his other hand and taking a wide stance.

"Let her go," Jonny demanded with anger and authority.

"You've been keeping her to yourself long enough, you selfish bastard!" Zach yelled, his forehead creased and his jaw clenched. "Now, I've finally freed her so that _I_ can enjoy her company."

This was not the Zach Jonny remembered. The Zach from school had always been shy, quiet and gentle. The kind of person you thought could never hurt a fly, but now here he was raping Jessie and threatening Jonny with a knife. The hatred and anger on Zach's face seemed out of place, but Jonny knew that didn't make it any less real.

"I wasn't keeping her against her will," he assured, keeping an eye on the knife in Zach's hand. "It was her choice to spend so much time with me."

"Liar!" Zach bellowed, lunging forward with a swipe of the knife.

Jonny jumped back out of the way and Zach retreated back to the bed. Jonny could tell by the way Zach stood stiffly, tightly gripping the knife in his hand, that he wasn't experienced in knife fights. Still, Zach was the one with the knife while Jonny was weaponless, and there was no doubt in Jonny's mind that Zach would fight with everything he had to keep Jessie.

But Jonny was ready to sacrifice everything to save her.

Jonny feinted to the right and Zach mirrored his move. He tried again to his left, only to be met by Zach again. The dark haired young man swayed slightly on his feet, gripping and re-gripping the hilt of the knife.

"You can't have her back," he stated softly, but with steel determination.

The two young men stared at each other without moving for many, long moments. Jessie was as still as a statute as she watched them from the bed behind Zach. It was amazing, the transformation he had gone through: from reverent, adoring worshipper to angry, passionate and hateful.

Jonny waited patiently for Zach to make a move, knowing he had a better chance defending against Zach than making an offensive move against him with that knife in his hands. Zach watched Jonny carefully, untrusting and highly protective of the prize behind him. The room was deathly silent, and so tense that no one even breathed.

Suddenly, Zach lashed out at Jonny with the knife, sweeping the blade diagonally across his torso. Jessie cried out in fear. Jonny rolled to the side and came up on one knee by the foot of the bed unscathed, with Zach behind him. He quickly looked over his shoulder, wary for a second attack, then immediately stood and twirled to face his opponent. Having missed Jonny with his first attack, Zach spun around a complete 360 degrees, holding the knife out in front of himself protectively. Knowing he had lost some ground in the attack, Zach's eyes darted between Jonny and Jessie and Jonny could see he was calculating his next move.

Knowing he was taking a chance, Jonny lunged at Zach the moment his eyes began to shift to Jessie. He grabbed for Zach's hand holding the knife, but wasn't fast enough. Zach pulled his arm back, then jabbed it forward, causing Jonny to jump back again, father away from Jessie. Zach slashed at him in a downward motion, and Jonny twisted away, leading Zach around the foot of the bed.

Zach kept slashing and jabbing at Jonny with the knife until Jonny managed to get a hold of his arm. He applied pressure to Zach's wrist exactly in the place Race had taught him would cause an attacker's hand to open involuntary and drop whatever weapon they had. Zach added his other hand to his grip on his knife, so he wouldn't lose it and Jonny grabbed at that hand to pull it away. As they struggled for control of the blade, they stumbled around, first crashing into the foot of the bed before Jonny was smashed against the wall with a grunt.

The two young men swayed back and forth before Zach wrenched himself away, bringing the knife with him. Jonny immediately adopted a wide stance, keeping his arms up and ready for the next attack, while Zach hovered for a moment, his knife weaving in front of him, before he lunged at Jonny again. This time he aimed for Jonny's mid-section, a blow that could kill Jonny instantly.

Jonny didn't have the room to twist out of the way again, but he managed to deflect the blow by grabbing Zach's hands again, changing the trajectory of the blade. The two young men found themselves in a tug of war over the weapon once more, this time with it positioned precariously between their bodies. Zach pushed and shoved against him, trying to stick the knife blade into his abdomen and forcing Jonny between the wall and the bed. Jonny used all his strength and quick thinking to keep himself from getting gutted while he used every trick he could think of to pry the knife from Zach's hands.

Their feet must have gotten tangled up somehow, because one of them, Jonny wasn't quite sure who, tripped and fell, bringing the other one down with him. With his hands locked on Zach's and the knife, Jonny didn't have the means to stop himself as he tumbled down on top of Zach. He could hear Jessie screaming, sounding like it was echoing from inside his own head. Then all was quiet.

Lying very still on top of the other young man, Jonny could feel the knife pressing into his stomach.


	12. Chapter 12

Title: Red Headed Goddess, 12/12

Author: Goddess Evie

Date: October 8, 2007

Category: JJHR, Angst

Disclaimer: I do not own JQ. I am only using the characters for my own unique story. I am using lyrics for the song "My Immortal" by "Evanescence." Seriously, people, music doesn't get better than this. I'm really quite surprised I waited until the last chapter to use any lyrics from either CD. Ah, well, enjoy the story!

Chapter 12: _I'm so tired of being here, suppressed by all my childish fears…your presence still lingers here and it won't leave me alone._

Jessie started as the door to the room banged open and then gasped to see Jonny standing there and staring at her and Zach. She was so stunned to see him that she couldn't make a noise, even to cry out for help. With wide eyes she watched as he seemed to falter for a moment, then stood strong again, his blue eyes filled with an anger and hate she had never before seen in them.

Jessie found she had mixed feelings about his presence. There was a part of her that was so happy and relieved to have him come to her rescue that she could have cried. He would stop Zach and get her out of this vile place. However, there was another part of her that was ashamed for him to see her like this. A tiny voice in the very back of her head reminded her that this wasn't her fault and Jonny wouldn't think any differently of her, but tied half-naked to a bed with Zach all over her was not how she wanted anybody to see her.

Zach lifted himself off of her, and Jessie saw him grab the knife from beside her on the bed as he faced Jonny. A new anxiety washed over her as she became a silent onlooker to Jonny and Zach's face off. She knew Jonny had been trained by her father and was an excellent fighter, definitely the more skilled of the two, but that didn't change the fact that Zach was the one with the knife and Jessie didn't doubt he'd kill Jonny in order to keep her.

_Hey, let's make a deal. I promise not to get hurt if you do._

The promise from their make-up rang loudly in Jessie's head. _Please don't get hurt Jonny_, she silently prayed in response.

"You," Zach spat at Jonny, the single word sounding like an accusation and an insult all rolled into one.

"Let her go," Jonny replied and Jessie was surprise at how much he reminded her of her dad in that moment.

"You've been keeping her to yourself long enough, you selfish bastard!" Zach bellowed angrily, making Jessie flinch. "Now, I've finally freed her so that _I_ can enjoy her company."

"I wasn't keeping her against her will," Jonny replied calmly and confidently. "It was her choice to spend so much time with me."

Jessie wanted to speak up and validate Jonny's statement, knowing it would hurt Zach to hear it from her, but she was mesmerized by the scene playing out in front of her and she couldn't get her tongue to work.

"Liar!" Zach bellowed, lunging forward with a swipe of the knife.

Jessie jerked in response as if she were the one Zach was attacking with the knife and not Jonny. Zach jumped back near her again after that brief attack and Jessie shied away from him even though his attention wasn't even on her. She watched as Jonny feinted first to the right and then the left with no success and then took up a defensive stance to await Zach's attack

"You can't have her back," Zach breathed determinedly and Jessie could see even through his shirt that every muscle in his back was tense and taut.

It was when Zach suddenly lashed out at Jonny with a diagonal sweep across the torso that Jessie found her voice, for a brief moment, and cried out in fear for Jonny. Jonny rolled out of the way and came up on his knees. He glanced over his shoulder and Jessie hoped to catch his eye, but his focus was solely on Zach. He stood to face Zach who was glancing between him and Jessie. Jessie felt every look thrown her way like a bullet ripping through her body. She didn't want him to look at her anymore. Unable to handle his attention on her, even briefly, she squeezed her eyes shut tight.

Jessie listened to the fight continue as she prayed for Jonny. She could hear the two of them struggling with each other, their grunts and labored breath from the effort. They moved around the end of the bed, and thumped against the wall. The sudden sound was enough to make her eyes open and look just in time to see Zach pull violently away from Jonny, knife still in hand, hesitate for a moment, and then rush Jonny, with the blade aimed for his mid-section. Jessie closed her eyes again, unable to watch as her best friend was sliced open before her.

She could hear more struggling, they bumped against the wall again on her right and then suddenly everything was quiet. Jessie wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but the terror that gripped her had too much of a hold on her to allow her a peek. She lay completely still, waiting for something to happen. There was the sound of something hitting the wall heavily and movement from where she had last heard Jonny and Zach struggling. She sensed only one of them moving, heard only one set of footsteps coming around the bed.

The mattress sunk under the added weight as somebody sat down next to her. She felt hands at her wrists and whimpered, waiting for Zach's hands to slide along her arms and down her body to take back up where he had been interrupted. Tears squeezed out from beneath her eyelids, as she realized that if Zach was sitting next to her on the bed, then Jonny was…

_Oh God, no_, the cry was purely mental, but she sobbed audibly, while her body tensed for the expected touch.

Many moments passed and the hands didn't move from her wrists. In fact, they seemed to be working at the ropes binding her to the bed. Her eyes snapped open and she stared unbelieving into a blue-eyed face framed with blonde locks. Jessie found herself gasping for air, feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off her chest, as she watched Jonny struggle to free her of her bonds.

It was only after watching him speechlessly for a few moments that she realized something wasn't quite right. His face, his entire body, was rigid and emotionless, his blue eyes dull and lost looking. Not like they'd been during their fight, but completely and utterly lifeless. Jonny moved mechanically, his eyes focused completely on his task, and there was a serious atmosphere in the room that said it wasn't just because he was trying to be polite and respectful to her in her current state. He wouldn't look at her, look into her eyes, communicating with his usually expressive eyes that everything would be okay.

With the right tug, the ropes suddenly loosened from around Jessie's wrists and she shot up to a sitting position, crossing her arms over her chest and forgetting her train of thought. She threw her legs over the side of the bed and sat on the very edge of the mattress, feeling her nakedness and Jonny's close proximity with sudden acuteness. She wasn't sure what to do, now. She looked over her shoulder at what remained of her shirt and bra, useless tatters now. She wanted to leave this room so badly, but what was the point of leaving still exposed as she was.

Jessie sensed movement from Jonny and she looked at him only to look away again when she saw him removing his shirt. What the hell was he thinking?! She curled into herself, making herself smaller, unsure of what Jonny was planning. She felt something brush against her shoulder blade and jumped away, leaning over the foot of the bed, feeling confused and betrayed and so utterly heartbroken.

But then Jonny was absolutely still again behind her. After a few moments, during which neither of them moved, Jessie cautiously looked over her shoulder to find Jonny's arm stretched across the distance between them while he stared at the floor, his shirt clutched in his hand. She realized he was offering it to her and she suddenly felt guilty about believing Jonny could ever have such wicked thoughts or intentions toward her.

Her hand was shaking as she reached for the shirt, one of his trademark black ones, and he let go of it, allowing his arm to drop to his side, when he felt her tugging on it. Keeping her back to her best friend, Jessie quickly pulled the shirt over her head, breathing deeply of the comforting smell of Jonny that came with the garment. She hugged herself again even after she had donned the shirt, but turned to face the door.

Jonny still sat silently, staring at the floor and Jessie found that, even though she herself was now covered, she was highly aware of Jonny's bare torso. She hated it. She knew she could trust him, had no doubt in her mind, but she still couldn't make the nervous, uneasy feeling she felt go away.

Jessie really wanted to leave this room. Leave this house. Leave this entire place behind.

"Can we get out of here?" she requested quietly.

Jonny started at the sound of her voice, looking at her like he'd forgotten she was even there. He stared at her like he was seeing her for the first time, making Jessie feel uncomfortable despite herself, and then nodded and rose. Jessie stood and followed him out of the room and down the hall. She stared at the back of his head as she trailed behind him, and noticed how stiffly he was walking. She couldn't help but wonder what had happened back in that room while she'd had her eyes closed, but her desire wasn't strong enough to make her go back and look.

Jessie suddenly stopped and called out to Jonny when they got to the living room. He halted and turned his head, but didn't look at her with his eyes. Jessie really didn't like the way he was acting, but it was hard to focus on his problems when she could still feel Zach's touch crawling along her skin. Jessie hugged herself and spoke.

"Maybe we should call our dads."

Immediately, Jonny dug into his pocket and pulled out the silver flip phone. He held it in his hand and stared at it for a long while before Jessie realized he wasn't going to do it himself. Giving him a worried look, she carefully edged toward him and gently pulled the phone out of his hand, being careful not to touch him. Once relieved of the phone, Jonny clenched his hand into a fist and closed his eyes.

Jessie kept glancing at him as she dialed her father's cell number and counted the rings before he picked up.

"Jonny?" she heard her father say from the other end.

Hearing his voice almost made her break down. She had to force herself to take deep breaths just so she could speak. "No, daddy, it's me."

Jessie could hear the concern in his voice in response to the way she sounded. "Jessie? Is that you?"

She was crying in full force, as she tried to explain to her father what happened. It was a struggle to try to put into words what she had just experienced in the last hour. She was having a hard time keeping her feet and came close to just dropping to her knees. She knew her sentences were coming out all jumbled and all she really wanted was her father to come and make everything better again. Finally he spoke, cutting her off with a single question.

"Where are you?"

She gasped, trying to come up with the answer. She looked around as if expecting a sign to pop up to tell her their location. Jonny continued to stand, silent and very still, not paying any attention to her.

"I don't know," she finally stuttered.

"Are you safe?" Race asked next.

"Yes…I think so…"

"Then just stay where you are. I'll track you two with your phone. Jonny's with you?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll be there soon."

"Please hurry, daddy."

Jessie hung up and held onto the phone. She took another look around at the living/dining room she was standing in and shivered. She wanted out of this place. Now. She stalked past Jonny for the front door, not caring at the moment if he followed or not. She struggled with the lock for a moment before she got the door to open, pulling so hard she almost lost her balance. Stepping through the door into the late afternoon, her first instinct was to scan for any threats. She found none after a long search, so stepped further out onto the front step. With a sigh she realized she was being overly paranoid and sat down on the stoop to wait for her father.

After a few moments she sensed Jonny behind her, and her defenses went up, no matter how much she reassured herself that she had nothing to fear from her best friend. Jonny stood behind her for a long time before he sat down next to her. When he did, Jessie scooted away from him, feeling guilty, but unable to help herself.

They sat in silence for what seemed an eternity as they waited for Race to arrive, not looking at each other, not speaking to each other. Silence reigned, uncomfortable, rigid and unbreakable. Jessie glanced nervously, but worriedly at Jonny every so often out of the corner of her eye, but couldn't make herself say anything. Jonny was still as a statue, staring out into the street. Jessie worried for him, if only because it was the best distraction she had to keep her from thinking of…other things.

A squeal of tires heralded Race's arrival, startling both teens. They both watched as Race pulled up to the house and exited the car with it still running. Dougan got out on the passenger side, but stayed where he was, talking on a cell phone. Race rushed up to the front of the house where Jessie and Jonny both stared at him with wide eyes, but neither moved.

When Race dropped to one knee in front of the two, instinct and experience told him to tread carefully. He reached out for his daughter and frowned when she flinched away and grabbed his hand with both of hers before he could touch her. She really wanted to be held by her father, to feel his strong arms around her, like that morning after being shown the original room wall-papered with pictures of her. And yet she just couldn't let him. She didn't want _anyone_ touching her, no matter how much she trusted them. Race didn't push her, but he curled his fingers around her hands, holding on to them tightly.

"Jess?" her father asked, communicating all his questions through his ice blue eyes.

"I'm…okay," she answered feebly, her gaze dropping away from his.

She just wanted out of there. She wanted to forget that Zach had ever happened. Wanted to forget the feel of his hands and mouth on her body…

Letting her mind travel down that path was too dangerous and painful and Jessie fought to keep her tears at bay. "I'm fine," she repeated again, even though her dad didn't look convinced at all. Once again, he didn't push the issue and instead turned his focus to Jonny.

Immediately the older man noted the blonde teen's stoic behavior and the way he was staring blankly at his hands. Race put his free hand on Jonny's shoulder and dipped his head to look into his eyes. Jonny acted surprised to see Race there, even though Jonny had been staring at him when he'd arrived.

"Jonny, you alright kiddo?"

All Jonny could do was stare at his mentor. Race waited for any answer at all, but the boy remained silent. With a sigh he looked between his daughter and Jonny and knew that whatever had happened went far beyond anything they had ever experienced before.

Race heard Detective Dougan's footsteps approaching slowly from behind. He turned to look over his shoulder without letting go of either Jonny or Jessie.

"There're a couple of patrol cars on the way," Dougan informed quietly.

"Why don't you go take a look inside?" Race suggested, wanting to do it himself and be sure it was done right, but knowing his daughter and Jonny needed him more.

Dougan nodded his consent and carefully made his way past the trio on the steps to head into the house. Race looked the two teens over again, saw that Jonny had gone back to staring at his hands and that Jessie kept nervously looking over her shoulder. Her hands gripped and re-gripped her father's as if she couldn't decide if she wanted to keep hanging onto him or let go. Either way, she wouldn't let him get any closer and he certainly hadn't missed the way she sat as far from Jonny as she possibly could when usually they were shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip.

Dougan reappeared in the doorway and caught Race's eye. Race raised his eyebrows, using the expression to ask his question, and Dougan just shook his head. Race took a deep breath and slowly exhaled it. Only one question reigned in his mind.

_What now?_

The End.

Summary: throws arms up in the air Jonny's alive! And Race arrives. And then that's the end. Of Red Headed Goddess, at least, but certainly not of the story.

Author's Notes: I know that I usually put this stuff at the beginning, but I didn't want to spoil the last chapter, so these sections came at the end! I'm really glad that none of you know where I live because I know a lot of you are hating me for how I'm ending this story. I know there is a lot left undone and unsaid, but it'll just have to wait for the sequel. Yes, you can all breathe easier knowing there's a sequel, but-OH NO SHE SAID BUT-no promises on when it'll be out. I'm working on another JQ fic, but it's totally unrelated to Red Headed Goddess. SORRY! I'll work on it and finish it quickly, though, so I can appease all ya'll with it while I work on RHG's sequel. I really had a hard time finishing this story, because I didn't want to give too much away, but I still needed to wrap up the story, at least for now. I'm not even sure I did a good job of ending this. I just kept writing until I got to a good ending point. At least to a good pausing point. I thought there was going to be an epilogue, as well, but it just didn't work out that way. Oh, well. I want to thank ALL my reviewers for their encouragement and positive responses! It's amazing how much a few reviews can keep a story going! I'm really glad so many enjoyed this story. I actually gained quite a few friends from writing this! grins So, for now, thank you and good night! bows


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